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 wouldn't really describe it as panic... It's been handled pretty matter of factly. If you were in certain locations then you either need to test and isolate, or keep an eye out for symptoms and then test and isolate if they appear. Masks are required again for public transport and they have requested people not to attend large events in that area. Otherwise life continues as normal. We will be out for dinner tonight with friends, dd attended ballet and had a play date. DH and I will both be in the office for a couple of days next week.
We have so few cases over here that we can actually dedicate the resources to identifying and understanding in a way many other countries can't because of the sheer number of cases.

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.

That is interesting. The Australians really take it very seriously. I lived there during the first wave. The do thorough tracing.

There seems be such a variation in the susceptibility of people catching it. I presume I had the alpha (kent) variant. The day before my symptoms showed I would have been my most infectious. Anyway, I was in a tiny room, with no ventilation, with my head of department for over an hour. She never got it (or at least not symptomatically, which I'd have expected for her age).

I still don’t think enough is known generally a lot of the things we hear are speculation and a lot more will come out as time goes by.

Yea this is correct in Australian news. They have sourced CCTV footage of the interaction in Myer (dept store) where the two men literally walked past one another in the store.

I was in the other store at the same time as the infectious man in the same dept at the same time and am now under manadatory isolation for 14 days.

Dunno. But I think a lot of this has been about using fear as a tool for ultra compliance. They have lost my trust therefore I have stopped believing anything. It’s a dangerous tactic by government

I don’t believe asymptomatic transmission is a thing either

How does showing CCTV prove that transmission happened that way. I’m in the UK and I’d be very doubtful. Be aware of the way that government is controlling its population.

If it was that bad, why did your PM come to the G7 and visit the Queen? Surely he must be very infectious right now.

Although this was a few months ago so not delta variant I always keep it in my mind.

I had a patient who had been admitted and was tested on admission (negative) then began showing signs of a cough about a week later. Infection control did a thorough follow up. All patients in that room were quarantined (4, all socially distanced) but only one nurse was (who hadn't been wearing safety goggles. We were told at the time that unless the patient was actively coughing whilst we were in her 2m and had our disposable mask and safety googles then transmission would be incredibly unlikely. I was annoyed at the time because the patient was confused and had fallen so I was literally cm away from them for 2x 12 hour shifts. But I now know how proactive that infection control unit was and not one healthcare worker caught it out of around 25 who cared for her and were in her space.

Why would the PM be infectious? I assume he would have been tested prior plus he is vaccinated.

Well he won’t be will he....that’s the point I’m making.

@DobbyTheHouseElk sorry, I took your post literally

@DobbyTheHouseElk

Well he won’t be will he....that’s the point I’m making.

Turns out money and power are very protective. G7 with thousands of staff and security = fine, royal ascot = fine. Walking through a shop = very dangerous, watching child's sports day on a field = banned. Know your place!

But we are all attending sports activities, play dates, school assemblies, we aren't under any restrictions unless there's an outbreak, and even then, the premier is only asking that we be mindful at large gatherings, the only mandatory change is masks on public transport and that will likely only be for the next week or two until the risk has passed.

I think the G7 has really highlight this recently.

If the strain was so bad and scary. Why was a 96 year old allowed to travel to cornwall where she’d come in contact with lots of people from all over the world. Interacting and not distancing from them. I’m pretty sure at some point in the day she’d have needed a a bathroom break, potential risk there.

Yet, I have to wear a mask to collect my children from school. I can’t enter the playground and have to remain 2m from everyone else outside.

It makes no sense. None of the G7 attendees wore masks.

My elderly FIL who has it as a very bad cough and fever that lasted over two weeks did not pass it to my elderly MIL who shared a bed with him every night throughout, sat with him for meals, watched telly for hours, room his temperature - all maskless. She definitely didn’t catch it as she lives in a country where she was tested regularly once he tested positive, and then they were both tested for antibodies afterwards. So to me it feels very unlikely that you could catch it by walking past someone. Surely the CCTV doesn’t prove he caught it from that person?

beingsunny I’m in the UK. It looks a lot different from here looking at Australia. My family are in Australia and I have no idea when I’ll see them again. You are all isolating within your country. The government will have to employ tactics to make you believe you are safe and better off inside your country.

Sounds like Oz is where we were over a year ago. People washing down their shopping and all that shit. (Some of us) believed anything back then. Now we know better (some of us)

@DobbyTheHouseElk my family are all in the UK, I well understand how horrendous it is being separated from family. I have none here, I'm a single parent with an 8yo who hasn't seen his grandparents or cousins for 2.5 years now and no idea when we can be together again.

I'm not saying the government here are always doing the right thing, I'm very angry that there seems to be no plans in place to allow us to travel, until in fact I'm furious that it's likely that even when they do eventually get the vaccine program running well and everyone vaccinated even then they will still likely insist on incoming passengers having to quarantine.

The virus is airborne. I think it is possible to catch it just by walking past someone - but very unlikely. Think of the random movement of the virus particles floating through the air and ending up in the right (or rather wrong!) place. It could be true that it happened in this one particular case. But that does NOT imply that you're likely to catch the virus in this way. The chance may be very low, but not zero.

I don’t think you can get it that way. It’s like the myth that you can get an STD from a loo seat.

But it is spread by aerosols. So I think where you have a high number of carriers in a confined space, without masks, for a long period of time, the viral load in the air could be quite high and it would be possible to contract it from breathing in that air. That is why many choir members caught it in February in UK.

But none of that would apply in Australia as there are only a handful of cases and they catch them early.

beingsunny I can imagine how awful it is for you. It’s been a really difficult time. My family were due to fly here in early April 2020 so it was really heartbreaking that they were so close to being here.

I hope you get to travel soon, but it doesn’t look terribly likely. That’s why it’s so unfair that your PM was allowed to travel about.

There's just no way of knowing! When I got covid, I didn't have any (close or known) contacts at all who also had it (unless it was an asymptomatic colleague or pupil at school). I could have picked it up anywhere- supermarket, door handle or any other surface, kids' friends, absolutely no way of knowing!

RebeccaCloud9 it sounds like you had contact with lots of people, just not anyone who was a known positive? So it was almost certainly an asymptomatic person who you were in close contact with - you just don't know who. That's different from a situation where someone has not been in close contact with anyone.

Thanks @DobbyTheHouseElk, it's dreadful.
I miss my family so much, I have lovely friends but it's really. It the same as calling in for a quick tea or catch up for an hour.

As I say I'm in isolation right now, which is rubbish but if it prevents widespread infection in the area it's really a small sacrifice. We have been living a normal life since more than a year now so we are actually happy to do our bit with the short sharp lockdowns when the do happen.

I talk to my family in the uk and honestly can't comprehend how terrible it has been over there, I remember the horror of working full time and home schooling but it's so long ago I don't really think I can be in a position to really understand

We were hoping to visit next year brut that now feels unlikely with the gov taking about building quarantine facilities.

Why was a 96 year old allowed to travel to cornwall where she’d come in contact with lots of people from all over the world.

The 96 year old woman is fully vaccinated. Most (if not all) people she interacted with were also vaccinated.

US have removed restrictions for vaccinated people. The main reason why UK has not done it yet is solidarity. Up until this weekend, the vaccines have only been available to a subset of adult population. It would have been unfair to "exclude" younger people who have sacrificed a lot over past 15 months for the benefit of others.

Of course, vaccines are not fully effective and there are small risks of breakthrough infections and very small risks of severe outcomes but, on balance, imposing restrictions on vaccinated people does not make much sense in the medium/long run.

Spot on @wintertravel1980. The delay in lifting restrictions is primarily to allow the opportunity for more people to receive a vaccination.