Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[alfred russel]

It strikes me as odd that you start from the premise that government should not be trusted on principle and but then defend your government's decision to do something that flies in the face of all reason - reduce restrictions at the very moment infections are rapidly rising.


This is a very good case of ideology getting in the way of good public policy decision making.  This is not a tough judgment at all.  If infections are increasing take steps to decrease the infections. Don't do the opposite.

There is a solution to covid-19: highly effective vaccines. I don't know the numbers in the UK but in the US virtually all covid-19 deaths and hospitalizations are among the unvaccinated population.

Why should socially responsible people who are vaccinated be restricted because other people refuse to do so? Forcing vaccinated people to live restricted lives discourages vaccination, and is implying that the vaccines are some combination of unsafe or ineffective.

[crazy canuck]

It strikes me as odd that you start from the premise that government should not be trusted on principle and but then defend your government's decision to do something that flies in the face of all reason - reduce restrictions at the very moment infections are rapidly rising.


This is a very good case of ideology getting in the way of good public policy decision making.  This is not a tough judgment at all.  If infections are increasing take steps to decrease the infections. Don't do the opposite.

There is a solution to covid-19: highly effective vaccines. I don't know the numbers in the UK but in the US virtually all covid-19 deaths and hospitalizations are among the unvaccinated population.

Why should socially responsible people who are vaccinated be restricted because other people refuse to do so? Forcing vaccinated people to live restricted lives discourages vaccination, and is implying that the vaccines are some combination of unsafe or ineffective.

You have been told more than once that not everyone who wants a vaccine is fully vaccinated.  You have also been told more than once, that not everyone can be vaccinated.

Most vaccinated people understand this.  Not everyone focuses on only themselves with the intensity of a thousands suns.

[alfred russel]

You have been told more than once that not everyone who wants a vaccine is fully vaccinated.  You have also been told more than once, that not everyone can be vaccinated.

Most vaccinated people understand this.  Not everyone focuses on only themselves with the intensity of a thousands suns.

Yeah I get that second doses for low risk are still being rolled out in some developed places, but besides the young who can't get vaccines?

Because pregnant people weren't included in initial studies I know some are reluctant to recommend, but they can get the vaccine here (my one pregnant friend who had a baby earlier this week got vaccinated).

[Tamas]

8 weeks is best because England knows better!

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/08/health/delta-variant-covid-vaccine-immunity.html

French researchers tested how well antibodies produced by natural infection and by coronavirus vaccines neutralize the Alpha, Beta and Delta variants, as well as a reference variant similar to the original version of the virus.

The researchers looked at blood samples from 103 people who had been infected with the coronavirus. Delta was much less sensitive than Alpha to samples from unvaccinated people in this group, the study found.

One dose of vaccine significantly boosted the sensitivity, suggesting that people who have recovered from Covid-19 still need to be vaccinated to fend off some variants.

The team also analyzed samples from 59 people after they had received the first and second doses of the AstraZeneca or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines.

Blood samples from just 10 percent of people immunized with one dose of the AstraZeneca or the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines were able to neutralize the Delta and Beta variants in laboratory experiments. But a second dose boosted that number to 95 percent. There was no major difference in the levels of antibodies elicited by the two vaccines.

"A single dose of Pfizer or AstraZeneca was either poorly or not at all efficient against Beta and Delta variants," the researchers concluded. Data from Israel and Britain broadly support this finding, although those studies suggest that one dose of vaccine is still enough to prevent hospitalization or death from the virus.

[Sheilbh]

Our fourth wave is starting, with the steepest curve since the pandemic started.
Just when all lights were supposed to turn green and everyone is busy booking their holidays.

New restrictions will not going to go over well, especially since the government (rashly) decided to end all restrictions just weeks ago and all the kids went out partying immediately and haven't stopped since.

¨
That's pretty much what's happening over here.

I feel like it's everywhere in Europe now - it looks like you can really see Delta hitting. As I say I hope countries have learned what they can from the UK experience - and I worry a lot about those countries that have plateaued at very low levels in Eastern Europe:

[celedhring]

Hospitalization and ICU rates are still markedly low, and we are past 50% of fully vaccinated adult population. But when I see the current R number it gives me pause.

[The Brain]

?

[Sheilbh]

Some Brits seem quite radical regarding the kind of permanent measures that could be established to fight Covid.

Just saw the actual poll from Ipsos Mori and my favourite is the 26% who think nightclubs and casinos should be close permanently regardless of the covid situation

Edit: Although the 19% who want a permanent 10pm curfew are actually terrifying

[The Larch]

Some Brits seem quite radical regarding the kind of permanent measures that could be established to fight Covid.

Just saw the actual poll from Ipsos Mori and my favourite is the 26% who think nightclubs and casinos should be close permanently regardless of the covid situation

Edit: Although the 19% who want a permanent 10pm curfew are actually terrifying

Yeah, those two are the most chilling ones. It's way more than the usual 1-2% of people who just mess up surveys. I guess it's a legion of pensioners thinking that way. 

[The Brain]

How many of those think that 10PM curfew means that pubs close at 10PM?

[Sheilbh]

Yeah, those two are the most chilling ones. It's way more than the usual 1-2% of people who just mess up surveys. I guess it's a legion of pensioners thinking that way. 

Yes some pensioners. I think there's also an incredibly strong busybody streak in Britain - and covid just gave them a new area in which to judge other people and, at last, the opportunity to call the police on their neighbours. Maybe it's the puritan/Calvinist inheritance in England and Scotland - people with a haunting fear that someone, somewhere is enjoying themselves. They will miss these restrictions.

But I also think there is something to the line that if Prussia was an army with a state attached, increasingly in British sort of contemporary identity we are a health service with a state attached. So I think there is a reasonably large group who will basically support anything if it can be positioned or understood as helping the NHS.

The other stuff is kind of crazy too 35% who want 10 days quarantine for anyone returning from a foreign country (which is stricter than the position right now ). Similar numbers who want social distancing enforced forever in pubs, cafes, theatres, cinemas - to be clear they're operating at 1/4 capacity right now and cannot survive as a sector with permanent enforced social distancing.

[clandestino]

Yesterday, while presenting the new weekly measures the government announced that in some places one can only access the inside of a restaurant with a negative test/ certificate. Only from Friday dinner to Sunday, weekdays there's no need.

Anyway, a journalist asked if the same measures could be applied to nightclubs which are closed since march 2020. Answer: not really, because reasons.

There's also a 11PM curfew because we all know that the virus only works at night and during the weekends.

I'm an old guy with a 1 year old son so my time out partying is fairly restricted but I wonder why young people aren't tearing shit around, apart from ignoring measures liek this...

[clandestino]

Yes some pensioners. I think there's also an incredibly strong busybody streak in Britain - and covid just gave them a new area in which to judge other people and, at last, the opportunity to call the police on their neighbours. Maybe it's the puritan/Calvinist inheritance in England and Scotland - people with a haunting fear that someone, somewhere is enjoying themselves. They will miss these restrictions.

It's the same over here and we are as catholic as one gets. It's just sad, envious old people.

[The Larch]

I'd say that a certain level of paranoia also plays a role in those wanting draconian measures to be kept further along than necessary.

[clandestino]

I'd say that a certain level of paranoia also plays a role in those wanting draconian measures to be kept further along than necessary.

There's those cases as well, but I'm referring to those that only see problems in parties, young people around or nightlife. Public transportation to the brim, not a problem.