Covid Delta variant offshoot ‘less likely’ to cause symptoms

[Whathefisgoingon]

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/18/covid-delta-variant-offshoot-less-likely-to-cause-symptoms

Sounds like good news to me?

Lets hope so, more infectious, but less severe, isn’t this the way the scientists say is normal and the way forward.

Interesting

It's good news for some but not really good news for those who are higher risk as it means many people will be walking around contagious and infecting these higher risk vulnerable people.

Think viruses tend to evolve this way.

As the person on there commented it will be the fact people are vaccinated and most cases are in kids. And then theres that some peolle are picking it up on lft.

@HSHorror I think they’ve probably accounted for that..

You would think so but then why did the dr (?) say that too

@HSHorror

You would think so but then why did the dr (?) say that too

I think he has just been asked for a quote about the press release. He isn't part of the React team who did the study.

He says "the data" doesn't give the groups the infections are in. It isn't clear whether he means the data that has been released doesn't have that information or whether he means that information wasn't collected.

TBH I don't think the sample size was large enough to draw any conclusions (I only read the press release). It says only 814 positive samples were analysed to look at the genetic code, 12% (98) were from the AY.4.2. lineage. Although they could know the vaccination status of participants, there is no way they could be sure whether participants had been infected previously and had immunity. I would guess that a large percentage of those 98 people had been vaccinated so the number of unvaccinated people in that sample would be tiny. The sample sizes would just be too small to determine if the variant was less virulent (produces less serious symptoms) or the vaccine was more effective against the variant.

This just sounds ludicrous to me. If you don’t have any symptoms then you are not ill. If you don’t have any symptoms then it’s highly unlikely you can spread a respiratory virus to someone else due to the lack of coughing and sneezing.
Great news if the virus has mutated to be that benign but surely this should mark the end of all this madness and we can get on with our lives?

If you don’t have any symptoms then it’s highly unlikely you can spread a respiratory virus to someone else due to the lack of coughing and sneezing.

I know Mike Yeadon has repeatedly tried to propogate this claim @Lostinacloud, but as I said on another thread it's unfortunately not true with such a transmissible virus

but surely this should mark the end of all this madness and we can get on with our lives?
You've been saying this most of the pandemic, no?

If this is really true then I can’t see people tolerating further restrictions.

People are barely tolerant restrictions for a variant that can cause symptoms which can sometimes quite severe.

Yes I have been saying it for quite some time. I can but hope that common sense will break through at some point.
As for symptomless illness - that used to be called “healthy” I guess that was pre pandemic though when not every last person was a permanent viral vector!

@Lostinacloud what are you talking about? You can be HIV positive and have no symptoms at all and obviously still transmit it. Does that mean you’re healthy?

@Lostinacloud

Yes I have been saying it for quite some time. I can but hope that common sense will break through at some point. As for symptomless illness - that used to be called “healthy” I guess that was pre pandemic though when not every last person was a permanent viral vector!

And typhoid, HPV, chlamyidia...

Asymptomatic tranmission is not something made up in 2020 no matter how vehemently posters seem to think it is

But we’re talking about a respiratory virus - you know, those viruses that need to spread via droplets and particles.

Even if it passes from person to person undetected, who cares if it doesn’t make you ill!

The fact this virus is so survivable and there is a vaccine for the vulnerable should be enough to bring it to an end but when news breaks that the virus has evolved so as not to cause people to be ill then I can’t understand anyone who thinks we need to carry on under all these restrictions and threats like vaccine passports and mandatory vaccines. Some posters here clearly enjoy it all too much!

@Lostinacloud

But we’re talking about a respiratory virus - you know, those viruses that need to spread via droplets and particles. Even if it passes from person to person undetected, who cares if it doesn’t make you ill!

The fact this virus is so survivable and there is a vaccine for the vulnerable should be enough to bring it to an end but when news breaks that the virus has evolved so as not to cause people to be ill then I can’t understand anyone who thinks we need to carry on under all these restrictions and threats like vaccine passports and mandatory vaccines. Some posters here clearly enjoy it all too much!

But we’re talking about a respiratory virus - you know, those viruses that need to spread via droplets and particles. As has been explained to you many many times, asymptomatic transmission commomly occurs with coronavirus @Lostinacloud

Even if it passes from person to person undetected, who cares if it doesn’t make you ill!
Uhuh, except this is only true if it doesn't make a significant proportion of the population seriously ill. You are wildly extrapolating from one media headline to assume that no-one now gets ill from coronavirus. If you read the original research findings you would see that isn't the case. As has been said many times, you may not personally be at risk from COVID but you're not immune to needing hospital care for other health emergencies. If hospitals are saturated with COVID cases, anyone needing non-COVID treatment will suffer.

When we end up with a dominant highly transmissible variant that only makes a tiny proportion of the population significantly ill, then yes, that would mean suppression measures could be dropped/minimised, with maybe some extra precautions being needed for peak times. This is exactly the situation we are heading towards (i.e., coronavirus being treated more like 'flu) but we are not there yet.

You've seen a single headline and decided (not for the first time) that this means the pandemic is over and anyone advising caution is hysterical.

@Lostinacloud I mean, it’s not a definitive article, is it?

I am sure if it is ever the case that it “doesn’t make anybody ill” then that is exactly what would happen.