Delta Variant & Outside Transmission

[Rayaheya]

Does anyone know if there is any data on it at all? I was at a BBQ for about 4 hours last weekend & one of the guests tested positive 2 days later. I'm isolating but wondering how much I need to worry?

Did you have close contact outside?

I haven’t yet seen anything regarding this. The duration of time spent with them and how close you were to them will all impact on your risk but ultimately being outdoors reduces risk. I hope everyone is ok.

There is still risk, of course, though less than if you were indoors.

Also take into account that Delta is 60% more transmissible than Alpha, which in turn is 60% more transmissible than Original Covid.

I'd be getting tested ASAP.

I’m not sure there is a point to worrying, if you can. The main outdoor risk is talking to each other closely if you are outside, but it’s still way lower than being inside. However if the variants are more transmissible - well the only way is to get tested which is a sensible thing to do. If you do that you will put your mind at rest and also safeguard against passing it on.

Have you been tested? Hopefully the fact that you were outside will minimise the risk of transmission

Don't worry OP. Get tested.

I haven't been tested as I don't have any symptoms. I thought you had to have symptoms to test? I am probably wrong about that though. We were approx. 2m apart all evening. It's just the length of time and the talking that's worrying me.

All you can do is test and hope for the best. All this speculation wont help at all. It is what it is.

@Rayaheya

I haven't been tested as I don't have any symptoms. I thought you had to have symptoms to test? I am probably wrong about that though. We were approx. 2m apart all evening. It's just the length of time and the talking that's worrying me.

Anyone can get an LFT

www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/testing/regular-rapid-coronavirus-tests-if-you-do-not-have-symptoms/

What's done is done, no point in worrying about it now - worrying won't change anything.

The BBQ was last weekend, chances are you would have developed symptoms by now if you were going to as most people are symptomatic by day 7.

You can get a pcr test now if you have had contact with a case.

New PHE research suggests the Delta variant is associated with a 64% increased risk of household transmission compared with the Alpha variant - and is 40% more transmissible outdoors.
news.sky.com/story/covid-19-delta-variant-60-more-transmissible-than-alpha-and-more-resistant-to-vaccines-phe-reports-12330068

There is no point worrying and I hope you are okay.

This is worth reading:

covid.joinzoe.com/post/happy-birthday-i-got-you-covid-how-a-party-turned-into-a-super-spreader-event

if you were 2m apart the whole evening then you don't even need to be isolating as you're not a contact

I've not been contacted by Test & Trace. I'm not officially a contact. Ever since I found out about the positive case I have isolated though as it seems the right thing to do. Plus I WFH so easy enough.

There was an email from the Zoe study saying people caught it outside but.... Were in a confined outdoor space and there was hugging...so who knows. I think it has always been possible but (a lot) less likely than indoors.

(lonely planet has linked the email)

Ah right ok, if you were officially a contact you would have been advised to get a PCR test.

Suprisingly, transmission WITHIN a household was quite restricted with the Alpha strain.

Yes, the Delta variant is more transmissable, but this is outdoors.

Unless you were sharing forks with the person, you're very unlikely to have picked it up.

In other words, each of these variants is actually getting worse then! Aren’t they?

@WuhanClanAintNothingToFuckWith

Overall yes - the virus is still relatively new to humans and has been gradually adapting and getting better at it's job. As it has ages to spread before people are incapacitated by it, zero evolutionary pressure to become milder - all of the pressure is to develop more transmissable and more immune-evasive strains.

The SA variant turned out not to be a major problem because although it was immune-evasive, it's less transmissable so couldn't compete with the Kent strain. But the Delta variant combines both.

Worryingly, thanks to vaccinations, transmissability and immune evading are now essentially the same thing in the UK, so quite likely the next variant produced here will be worse still.

Just wondering if this Delta variant has emerged (more transmissible) from a country as hot as India, where maybe they would spend more time outside, does not mean our summer is doomed? Or is it more to do with living conditions or multigenerational households in India? Or what?

Worryingly, thanks to vaccinations, transmissability and immune evading are now essentially the same thing in the UK, so quite likely the next variant produced here will be worse still.

Just trying to get my head around this! So being highly contagious and evading vaccines is EXTREMELY likely to be the next step!

@WuhanClanAintNothingToFuckWith

Just wondering if this Delta variant has emerged (more transmissible) from a country as hot as India, where maybe they would spend more time outside, does not mean our summer is doomed? Or is it more to do with living conditions or multigenerational households in India? Or what?

Not really any of those things - there’s no reason to think “summer is doomed”.

As PP says, what viruses do is try to stay viable. Their job is to survive by passing from host to host.

Original strains of Covid-19 weren’t as transmissible, it’s just we weren’t expecting it so no measures in place and no knowledge of how it spread so it had a while to run rampant. Then we realised it was airborne primarily (hands, face, space) and lockdowns and social distancing limited it. So it had to adapt - it had to get more transmissible. Hence the different variants.

But vaccination is making a big difference - your risk in this country is no so high. If you lived in a developing country it’s much more serious. So count your blessings instead of focusing on the worst.

We’re screwed.