So now we have Deltacron.

I said right at the beginning that at some point we would have to get used to the idea that Covid is here to stay, just as we accept the many different strains of influenza and of course the common cold.

You and many another, GG, including the sainted scientists . My view is that we need to stop obsessing about covid.

Tin hat firmly on

volver

*GG13*, I have no special knowledge in this, just a scientific background in another area and an ability to read between the lines of news reports.

As growstuff says it doesn't matter who calls it what, but I know for sure that calling it "Deltacron" is more likely to cause alarm than calling it XYZ-123 or whatever its scientific name is.

I didn't see Bauld on TV, but I've got Sky on just now in case she comes on again. The only articles I have found online say that there are no large numbers of cases, there is no evidence that it is more or a concern than what we already have. We had a "deltacron" before, do you remember? Turned out to be nothing.

Now maybe this will be nothing and maybe it won't. But like Pantglas I'm a bit over the whole thing of "new variant, man the barricades!!" That's not putting my head in the sand, and its not ignoring the truth, its getting on with life.

I am also totally over the new variant man the barricades mentality.

I said right at the beginning that at some point we would have to get used to the idea that Covid is here to stay, just as we accept the many different strains of influenza and of course the common cold.

GG13, I have no special knowledge in this, just a scientific background in another area and an ability to read between the lines of news reports.

As growstuff says it doesn't matter who calls it what, but I know for sure that calling it "Deltacron" is more likely to cause alarm than calling it XYZ-123 or whatever its scientific name is.

I didn't see Bauld on TV, but I've got Sky on just now in case she comes on again. The only articles I have found online say that there are no large numbers of cases, there is no evidence that it is more or a concern than what we already have. We had a "deltacron" before, do you remember? Turned out to be nothing.

Now maybe this will be nothing and maybe it won't. But like Pantglas I'm a bit over the whole thing of "new variant, man the barricades!!" That's not putting my head in the sand, and its not ignoring the truth, its getting on with life.

Ah, ok, my daughter always gets a PCR follow up from a +ve LFT.

Jaxjacky it was a LFT.
As was mine this morning.

Professor Linda Bauld from Edinburgh is talking about the new variant deltacron on BBC news volver and she has said that it was sequenced at L’Institute Pasteur after being discovered in Cyprus earlier.

I have re read the Sky report, what have I missed?

The 'substantial' immunity has come from a mix of vaccination and infection and a week or two ago stood at 97%

Oops if your husband has had a PCR test, as our grandson did yesterday, they will know which type.

However, scientists stress there is now substantial immunity in the human population against both variants and there is no reason to think this will pose a danger to vaccines.

How is this compatible with rising cases and reported (anecdotally, of course, because officialdom isn't interested) multiple reinfections?

And where has this 'substantial immunity' come from when we know that the only way to achieve herd immunity is through preventitive vaccines? (i.e. not ones that just lessen the severity of the disease.)

This past week 5 people I know have tested positive, None of them have informed anyone, so how will the government know how contagious any future strains are?

How will they know? MrOops has Covid, but no one will know what strain it is.
They know he has tested positive because we told them, but no idea of what type.

maddyone

I’m rather concerned about the rising cases of Covid and also about this apparent new variant. The government being unconcerned doesn’t in any way to alleviate my concern.

So am I. I'm actually working in a school for 10 weeks because there's a shortage of staff and I bit the bullet and decided to "help out" (with mask). I don't work on Fridays, but 250 pupils were sent home today and a different 250 will be sent home on Monday because so many staff are ill. About 10% of the pupils are absent. The fact that government isn't concerned (aka couldn't be bothered) increases my concern, especially as the latest release of JCVI minutes confirms that the intention always has been to aim for "herd immunity" and children have been seen as the carriers.

I’m rather concerned about the rising cases of Covid and also about this apparent new variant. The government being unconcerned doesn’t in any way to alleviate my concern.

What a strange world we live in. I had just watched an upsetting bit of news (another one) on TV and wasn't concentrating as I read. So I "read" that this was a recumbent virus. So instead of re-combining, the little picture in my brain had it lying down. For at least a minute I felt maybe the world is trying to be a kinder place to us than it has been recently [hugs]

So omicron is not more deadly, there's just more of it around.

It's bedtime. I'll be back in the morning.

volver

How can it simultaneously be true that omicron is more deadly than seasonal flu and also that the mortality rate from flu is higher than the mortality rate for covid?

Because Omicron is more transmissible and there are more cases. The figure of 40% is from a Japanese study. Incidentally, there is no evidence that the death rates from seasonal flu and Omicron are significantly different. In the UK, Covid is still accounting for approximately 10% of deaths.

Pantglas2

I’m not doubting that growstuff - the point I make is that there are very few deaths here after all our best efforts in terms of isolating, mask wearing etc so what else do we have to do?

Carry on wearing masks, testing and whatever else you've been doing. It obviously worked. There's no need for a general lockdown. The trouble is that, as we've seen, many people haven't been that careful.

PS. The government and media should stop covering up what's going on in schools.

How can it simultaneously be true that omicron is more deadly than seasonal flu and also that the mortality rate from flu is higher than the mortality rate for covid?

I’m not doubting that growstuff - the point I make is that there are very few deaths here after all our best efforts in terms of isolating, mask wearing etc so what else do we have to do?

M0nica

Catching a disease in itself is not a disaster, for the vast majority, it will be a mild infection and soon back to normal. Surely that there are so many more cases of COVID but still fewer deaths than from flu, shows how mild a disease it has become.

Yes, that is thanks to the vaccination, but does it matter what the reason is. It is the result that matters.

No, MOnica, there are more deaths involving Covid than from flu. The figure you've seen is that the mortality rate from flu is higher, which isn't the same thing at all. Few people catch flu.

Pantglas2

I’m struggling with all this doom and gloom with COVID.

As a county we have less than 300 deaths in two years of COVID and yet the whole county has suffered two summers of partial lockdown to the detriment of businesses and livelihoods.

What is it you want?

I'd like people to start facing facts (not doom-mongering or conspiracy theories) and realise that Covid is still here and is not going anywhere. Social distancing and other mitigations have played a part in reducing transmission. Pretending otherwise because you're fed up with it won't make it go away. Unfortunately, your county can't act independently from the rest of the country, where death rates have been much higher.

Catching a disease in itself is not a disaster, for the vast majority, it will be a mild infection and soon back to normal. Surely that there are so many more cases of COVID but still fewer deaths than from flu, shows how mild a disease it has become.

Yes, that is thanks to the vaccination, but does it matter what the reason is. It is the result that matters.

It's been estimated that Omicron is at least 40% more deadly than seasonal flu.

I’m struggling with all this doom and gloom with COVID.

As a county we have less than 300 deaths in two years of COVID and yet the whole county has suffered two summers of partial lockdown to the detriment of businesses and livelihoods.

What is it you want?

Whoever is responsible for the Deltacron name, it would appear that at least one recombinant has been sequenced. Sajid Javid is sticking his head in the sand if he really thinks there are "no concerns at all".