Is the delta variant this transmissible?

[BouncyDaisy]

The health officials and experts has said that the delta variant is more transmissible.

I was just chatting to a neighbour who has family living abroad in Australia where they found some cases of coronavirus of the delta variant. The woman explained to me that the health authorities in Australia wanted to tracked where and how the people got the covid19. She said to me that one of the men walked by another person and that's all it took for him to pick up an infection. I asked for more information and if these people were inside and sharing a space indoors together.

I finished up the conversation and went on my way.

Surely that's a load of bull rap?

2 people walking by each other in the street, one who has covid and the other not and the other person becoming exposed and developing an infection. The infected person who spread covid apparently wasn't even coughing. How can that be even possible? One person would surely have to be having a coughing fit to expose the other person to infectious fluids especially outside. None of what she told me made any sense.

Is the delta variant that transmissible where people can become infected just by walking by each other.

I did read somewhere that the Australians said that you could catch the Delta variant by passing by someone in a shopping centre. I assume they are not wearing masks though.

Bull rap is supposed to read bullcrap

There's been similar panics before in Aus, and it's turned out that it's been caused by people lying about their whereabouts and contacts.

Everything we are hearing now is bullcrap. Delta variant bullcrap. They've lost me now. The fearmongering has gone too far.

I'd be very sceptical.

Bear in mind that all governments are engaging in propaganda at the moment - to make their populations do what they want and for political reasons. The Aussie government needs to justify the ongoing isolation of its population, so I'd view anything coming out of there through that lens until I see a peer reviewed paper in a reputable scientific journal confirming it.

I used to work in sexual health, the number of women who rang back following a positive std test to say they'd spoken to their partner and it couldn't possibly be positive far FAR exceeded the false negative rate.

Unless there is scientific evidence of transmission this way I would assume it's a lack of honesty

Of course it's possible.

Walk past someone and breathe in at the exact time they spit out a bunch of covid carrying droplets in your direction....

However, this is quite clearly invented.

It's on a par with "Yes, I know the Queen" - a line that is used surprisingly often by Brits in the US

I believe it was in a shopping centre, so inside. I bet they must have coughed or sneezed.

I'm someone who followed the guidelines seriously. I am slowly moving back to normality. I remain optimistic and cautious but that tale I heard from Australia went too far for me. Apparently a man who wasn't coughing passed it onto someone else outdoors but they weren't very close by together. There were some metres between them. That just doesn't make and sense.

It’s worth saying they do the genetic sequencing on every single case so the truth will our. They can trace the chain of transmission and report it accordingly. If anyone wants to follow, abc.net.au is the bbc equivalent. No need to get conspiratorial about it.

I don’t think any expert has ever come out and said it was completely impossible. I think however they believe it is unlikely.

The truth is, who knows really. There have been people who have claimed to catch it despite never leaving their house and cleaning/ quarantining everything that enters the house.

The virus seems to work in mysterious ways.

@ILookAtTheFloor

There's been similar panics before in Aus, and it's turned out that it's been caused by people lying about their whereabouts and contacts.

I know they had a case which first looked like someone poping quickly into a shop for a take-out caused a case then turned out guy has lied and was illegally working long shift in kichen - so had been in contact for hours.

Though there was odd hotel room tranmission - two hotel doors being open at same time in quarantine hotel spead it to another family - but no direct contact - probably a ventilation issue. I think building ventalation is an area that needs to be considered more.

The virus seems to work in mysterious ways.

I really don't think it actually does. No more than any other virus. This is just something we are being lead to believe.

It's probably unlikely but not impossible, after all, we're all constantly breathing out while we're wandering around. If an infected person breathes out and then someone else breathes in that same air, that could transmit the virus.

But you have to think of these things on a population not an individual level. The risk of the above situation to the individual isn't nothing, it's just very very low.

Say it's 1 in a million per year. In a country with 70 million people, that's 70 people who will get infected that way. So it's massively dwarfed by people who get infected sitting across a table from someone, hugging someone, sitting next to them watching TV, having physical contact, sharing a bed etc, but it doesn't mean no-one could ever get infected in that way.

This is also how they came up with the 'stay 2 metres apart' guidance. It's not that this is a completely safe distance, it's just that the chance of getting infected at this distance is very low. You can prevent say, 90% of infections if no-one ever gets closer than 2 metres from people outside their household, but it doesn't reduce the risk to zero. It's safer than 1 metre but not as safe as 3 metres, but is chosen as the practical solution. If people had to stay 3 metres apart, they'd have to let fewer people into shops, for example.

A colleague told me about her elderly in laws who have both contracted covid this week. Coincidentally (or not) all of the people in the adjoining house also have it, even though they don’t really mix apart from chatting over the fence.

Not saying that it can’t be a coincidence but in a low covid area it did make me think about exactly how transmissible is the virus

There's been similar panics before in Aus, and it's turned out that it's been caused by people lying about their whereabouts and contacts.

Yes I’d be skeptical. I’m sure it could conceivably happen but it’s extremely unlikely. IIRC weren’t some of the earlier cases in Aus because the quarantine hotel guards were shagging the residents? Far more likely to be something like that!

@Squidlydoo

A colleague told me about her elderly in laws who have both contracted covid this week. Coincidentally (or not) all of the people in the adjoining house also have it, even though they don’t really mix apart from chatting over the fence.

Not saying that it can’t be a coincidence but in a low covid area it did make me think about exactly how transmissible is the virus

I would guess though that they were closer together than you might think, and talking over the fence for a longer period of time than they realise. So again, it's people misremembering what they've been doing, and misunderstanding how risky it actually is.

These 'just walked past' stories are flat out lies IMO.

Bear in mind that all governments are engaging in propaganda at the moment - to make their populations do what they want and for political reasons
^word

what OP is describing is how contagious measles is -- delta isn't that bad

@eurochick

I'd be very sceptical.

Bear in mind that all governments are engaging in propaganda at the moment - to make their populations do what they want and for political reasons. The Aussie government needs to justify the ongoing isolation of its population, so I'd view anything coming out of there through that lens until I see a peer reviewed paper in a reputable scientific journal confirming it.

Not the case, but thanks for playing. The cases in question were more about breathing in infected air - incidental contact in display homes; walking past each other; in shopping centres; and yes, via ventilation in hotel rooms (this has occurred several times). All have been verified via genomic testing.

@Dustyboots

Everything we are hearing now is bullcrap. Delta variant bullcrap. They've lost me now. The fearmongering has gone too far.

You can think that, but the Delta variant is more infectious without being more deadly. That's just how it is.

Yes it is possible. I'm in Oz and we have had cases where the virus has been passed from between hotel rooms in quarantine, proven by genomic sequencing. That's why, even though we have only a few hundred cases in the entire country and they are all in quarantine or hospital, there is currently a big push to build dedicated quarantine facilities, as while hotel quarantine works pretty well, it isn't ideal.

Allegedly- there was no breach found in hotel quarantine- two people in unconnected rooms opened their doors at the same time and it travelled down the corridor, and between rooms...... also yes, there were (2) cases which were attributed to slightly brushing against each other. Not sure how much I believe that, given the spread otherwise was pretty normal here.

I caught Covid last week. All of my children and OH have it - expected. I stayed in an apartment last weekend with my two sisters and one has caught it and so far the other has not caught it - not expected. Also my kids played with their cousins during the infectious period and none of the cousins have caught it. Their full classes have so isolate but I’m betting none of the kids test positive.

I think it is very contagious but not that contagious although the period for them to still test positive is still ongoing so that might change but I doubt it now as it’s been over a week now.

Yes, unfortunately this did happen in Sydney this week. Genome sequencing and in store camera footage in this case have confirmed the transmission occurred through fleeting contact. AFAIK it was in a department store though, so not outside.