Are ‘variants’ being used to keep us all frightened and compliant?

[Tonylepony]

Watched the Andrew Marrs show this morning and found the discussion on variants very reassuring and not what I’d expected at all. I’ve just been hearing so much about how the Indian and Brazil variants are mainly affecting younger people, we’re all doomed, some variants going to occur any day now that will completely evade the vaccine etc. I’ve honestly been feeling more and more depressed despite having had the vaccination. But it seems things might not be as bad as we’re being led to believe?

@murbblurb

Sounds good if you give a fuck about the world your kids will have. And who wants to do long commutes?

We used to do that, live and work in high density built up city neighbourhoods ...it was called the city slums and the wealthy had country homes for their health.

Another conspiracy theory @PicsInRed.
However I’m more than happy to change my habits to help combat climate change ...,So should everyone else, covid or no covid.
If you think covid is an inconvenience, wait until we start feeling the inconvenience of climate change with food shortage, migration, floods etc. It has already started.

But that’s another for another thread to talk about.

@CovidHalloween

Another conspiracy theory *@PicsInRed*. However I’m more than happy to change my habits to help combat climate change ...,So should everyone else, covid or no covid. If you think covid is an inconvenience, wait until we start feeling the inconvenience of climate change with food shortage, migration, floods etc. It has already started.

But that’s another for another thread to talk about.

It's not a conspiracy theory, it's something which has been discussed and published by (iirc) the UN as a posited approach to climate change.

Sometimes weird ideas are official.

@PicsInRed happy to do whatever it takes to combat climate change. We have already done loads on a personal level, we are already a very low carbon footprint family, but there’s still room for improvement. Everyone’s behaviours matters, whether it’s in a positive or negative manner.

I dunno, I watch the news regularly (online, tv) and reporting of the variants and they’ve pretty consistently said they haven’t been proven to be any more dangerous etc haven’t they?

No, I wish this were the case. I have family abroad (India) who are now ill after managing to escape for a year because the surge by current variant is so bad... that variant is already in the UK (partly due to irresponsible travel. No one in my family is travelling, incl sadly for family funerals)

Colleagues also report that situation in S America is terrible, with younger & younger people affected. I really wish that countries would really clamp down the borders so we can buy some time to sort this out!

They're being called mutant variants now because more scary than variants. To which we have become inured

@tobee I was only thinking that this morning when a doctor on the BBC was asked what a double mutant was. He clearly had no idea but it sounds good 🤷‍♀️

No, I wish this were the case. I have family abroad (India) who are now ill after managing to escape for a year because the surge by current variant is so bad...

Has it been proven that the surge was caused by the 'current variant' though? I heard that there some are blaming the surge at least partly on several potential super spreader events - such as political rallies and cricket matches - which were allowed to go ahead.

I'm with @DespairingHomeowner. If anything I don't think people are worried enough about these variants and am beyond frustrated that people are rushing to travel abroad and demanding an end to quarantine. I have friends in India and things are terrifying there - people are genuinely afraid, young and old alike. These are young, healthy people who are watching young colleagues end up seriously ill, watching their families and friends on social media begging for vaccines / plasma / oxygen cylinders.

This isn't about doom mongering but people need to be extremely careful now. I honestly feel like complacency is setting in, especially because so many people are vaccinated now. Opening up international travel will be a disaster and undo everything we have worked so hard for.

@IcedPurple I think it's a double whammy of new variant plus crazy spreader events and general poor messaging around for example the need for ventilation.

Read Mac n Chise @sailorrooscout, who is a scientist at Moderna, on Twitter about variants. For a measured response

Most scientists do not expect variants to have significant vaccine escape in the near future. But keep getting vaccinated is the tldr

I don’t think it is to scare us but there is uncertainty around the variants so it is much better to be prudent and careful with them.

The situation in India and Brazil is very frightening. It is estimated that 1/3 of Delhi’s population is Covid positive. Some Indian and Brazilian cities had previously acquired some Covid immunity yet the current wave was not stopped by that. So in all likelihood you need very high vaccination rates for certain variants not to take hold. And possibly keep on top of those vaccinations on an ongoing basis (but who knows what percentage of the population needs to be vaccinated every year/six months to keep on top of it).
I do not see any downside to being cautious. I am not scared, better to be careful.

India as a whole definitely stopped being careful eg mass events/everything open and now this (we have lots of family and friends there and locally in London too). I would rather be careful until we know more than do “everything” and face another lockdown in 6 months.