New Covid variant *title edited by MNHQ at OP's request*

[Wingingthis]

Can anyone talk some sense about how dangerous this is or is it just the media over exaggerating?

@TheVampiresWife I didn’t say it should have replaced the vaccine program. I said T&T and the vaccine passport scheme.

We could have employed medical professionals from other countries, paid nurses proper salaries rather than paying more for ‘bank’ staff etc. It’s been terribly run. We’ve had nearly two years to sort this out and we’ve spent billions on things (t&t and vaccine passports) that will basically make no difference when it comes to actually treating people for the virus AND all the other illnesses that haven’t gone anywhere and are just backing up.

The thing is Track and Trace would have been of use with a very small number of cases. Once Delta came on the scene then clearly it was unworkable.

With this virus (and its mutations) the world is always on the back foot. At least with this variant the action has been speedy. We should praise the Botswanian authorities for immediately raising the alarm (unlike one country who is responsible for this whole damned mess....).

This could be the big one in terms of variants - better at transmitting itself, better at infecting, better at evading vaccines, better at killing. It was always rather inevitable that such a dangerous variant would emerge, really the blame falls upon those nations who haven't vaccinated enough of their population (and on people who refuse the vaccine when they can have it of course).

The scientists have always been pretty clear, if there's a variant that the vaccines don't combat or can't quickly be tailored to combat, we're going to be back to square one and it'll be March 2020 all over again.

We just need to accept that restrictions and lockdowns will become a regular part of life over the next decade at least. That's no bad thing in itself, lockdown was positive for many. OK businesses like nightclubs and restaurants will fail because there's no point propping them up indefinitely, but it's not a huge problem because if/when the pandemic is finally beaten, there will be plenty of staff looking for work and plenty of premises to let.

@TheVampiresWife

But we could have made a start, the pandemic struck 2 years ago, yet we have done nothing about (horrid term) Bed blocking, still charge healthcare students a fortune to train.

Indeed, by forcing carers to vaccinate, we ve made staff shortages even worse.

Has any of the 40 new hospitals Boris promised us all in 2019, actually been started/planned for/staff and equipment obtained? no.

I voted Tory, i very much feel it was a mistake.

@bumbleymummy

I don't normally report posts (prefer a good debate) but in this case I have done.

It is really really unhelpful, and quite frankly, dangerous to be saying vaccines are useless and vaccinated people are effectively "unvaccinated". If one person decided not to bother getting jabbed or getting their booster because of it that would be shit.

Vaccination is now more, not less, important. A new variant will reduce efficacy, but not to zero. The more people vaccinated (and the greater level of immunity they have, which is boosted by vaccines, the better).
This is what we saw with delta and what we will see with new variants. The immune response is not binary.

@HarrietsChariot

This could be the big one in terms of variants - better at transmitting itself, better at infecting, better at evading vaccines, better at killing. It was always rather inevitable that such a dangerous variant would emerge, really the blame falls upon those nations who haven't vaccinated enough of their population (and on people who refuse the vaccine when they can have it of course).

The scientists have always been pretty clear, if there's a variant that the vaccines don't combat or can't quickly be tailored to combat, we're going to be back to square one and it'll be March 2020 all over again.

We just need to accept that restrictions and lockdowns will become a regular part of life over the next decade at least. That's no bad thing in itself, lockdown was positive for many. OK businesses like nightclubs and restaurants will fail because there's no point propping them up indefinitely, but it's not a huge problem because if/when the pandemic is finally beaten, there will be plenty of staff looking for work and plenty of premises to let.

In terms of acceptance I wouldn’t say it’s lockdowns

Ten years to wait for a job in a nightclub or restaurant? Great. A decade of lockdowns and life will be destroyed.

As a recently returned traveller all I know is that the UK Passenger Locator Form and Testing Policies simply don't work - (My day 8 test came back as positive, there was simply no link to Track & Trace or my Passenger Locator Form and I had no contact from any official body to check I was isolating)
So although they seem to be quick to stop flights today - there will be a pile of travellers from those countries in the UK now and even if they are testing positive I don't believe there will be much if any contact tracing to try to limit the spread.
If the variant is of concern - I will put money on it being in the UK and starting to spread...

Test and trace won’t get rid of Covid so you’d have to look at how much isolation helped with case numbers

Lockdown wasnt positive for many at all I have no idea how you can actually say that. I dont know anyone who would say it was a positive and how you can glibly say about failing business not being a problem. I hope you are somewhat joking

I get the impression the problem is that have no idea how transmissible or potentially vaccine evading it could be. Only about natural immunity which could be at its waning point in South Africa.

Also has there been anything about the seriousness of infection - the Hong Kong patients both seem according to twitter asymptomatic so more deadly doesnt actually seem to have been mentioned.

@HarrietsChariot your post sounds insane.

Who will be complying with lockdowns for another 8 years? And why will it magically go away then...

.

@HarrietsChariot

This could be the big one in terms of variants - better at transmitting itself, better at infecting, better at evading vaccines, better at killing. It was always rather inevitable that such a dangerous variant would emerge, really the blame falls upon those nations who haven't vaccinated enough of their population (and on people who refuse the vaccine when they can have it of course).

The scientists have always been pretty clear, if there's a variant that the vaccines don't combat or can't quickly be tailored to combat, we're going to be back to square one and it'll be March 2020 all over again.

We just need to accept that restrictions and lockdowns will become a regular part of life over the next decade at least. That's no bad thing in itself, lockdown was positive for many. OK businesses like nightclubs and restaurants will fail because there's no point propping them up indefinitely, but it's not a huge problem because if/when the pandemic is finally beaten, there will be plenty of staff looking for work and plenty of premises to let.

I see the gleeful hand rubbing has started 🙄

@goldfluffyclouds

As a recently returned traveller all I know is that the UK Passenger Locator Form and Testing Policies simply don't work - (My day 8 test came back as positive, there was simply no link to Track & Trace or my Passenger Locator Form and I had no contact from any official body to check I was isolating) So although they seem to be quick to stop flights today - there will be a pile of travellers from those countries in the UK now and even if they are testing positive I don't believe there will be much if any contact tracing to try to limit the spread. If the variant is of concern - I will put money on it being in the UK and starting to spread...

Yup.

Dh just told me that someone from his work said they wanted to wfh because of the (Botswana) Nu variant !! I fear it may take hold here, but unlikely to have reached Surbiton already!

It is undoubtedly already here (in UK and EU). Do you know how many people fly into the UK and EU from southern Africa every day? Thousands.

@HarrietsChariot

This could be the big one in terms of variants - better at transmitting itself, better at infecting, better at evading vaccines, better at killing. It was always rather inevitable that such a dangerous variant would emerge, really the blame falls upon those nations who haven't vaccinated enough of their population (and on people who refuse the vaccine when they can have it of course).

The scientists have always been pretty clear, if there's a variant that the vaccines don't combat or can't quickly be tailored to combat, we're going to be back to square one and it'll be March 2020 all over again.

We just need to accept that restrictions and lockdowns will become a regular part of life over the next decade at least. That's no bad thing in itself, lockdown was positive for many. OK businesses like nightclubs and restaurants will fail because there's no point propping them up indefinitely, but it's not a huge problem because if/when the pandemic is finally beaten, there will be plenty of staff looking for work and plenty of premises to let.

Just what people want to read on their friday morning MN browse @HarrietsChariot

I disagree entirely. Lot's of wild speculating!

We have a substantial amount of the population with immunity from vaccination & infection (which doesn't go away or become useless in the face of new variants), we have several approved vaccines that can be tweaked. It is also impossible to tell at this point how nu would behave if in a country with high COVID cases already, and high vaccination rates.

lockdown was positive for many
ah - perhaps you're not an entirely serious poster?

The preliminary report from Botswana said the 4 cases they identified were from travelers who were doing the mandatory testing and were all fully vaccinated.

@hamstersarse

The preliminary report from Botswana said the 4 cases they identified were from travelers who were doing the mandatory testing and were all fully vaccinated.

Unsuprising - most people who travel are vaccinated? It makes things infinitely harder if you are not.

@HarrietsChariot

This could be the big one in terms of variants - better at transmitting itself, better at infecting, better at evading vaccines, better at killing. It was always rather inevitable that such a dangerous variant would emerge, really the blame falls upon those nations who haven't vaccinated enough of their population (and on people who refuse the vaccine when they can have it of course).

The scientists have always been pretty clear, if there's a variant that the vaccines don't combat or can't quickly be tailored to combat, we're going to be back to square one and it'll be March 2020 all over again.

We just need to accept that restrictions and lockdowns will become a regular part of life over the next decade at least. That's no bad thing in itself, lockdown was positive for many. OK businesses like nightclubs and restaurants will fail because there's no point propping them up indefinitely, but it's not a huge problem because if/when the pandemic is finally beaten, there will be plenty of staff looking for work and plenty of premises to let.

'Not a huge problem' if tens of thousands of people lose their livelihoods? Er, okay

Also, there's no evidence that this variant is 'better at killing' (full marks for scaremongering and insensitivity there, however).

@HarrietsChariot

This could be the big one in terms of variants - better at transmitting itself, better at infecting, better at evading vaccines, better at killing. It was always rather inevitable that such a dangerous variant would emerge, really the blame falls upon those nations who haven't vaccinated enough of their population (and on people who refuse the vaccine when they can have it of course).

The scientists have always been pretty clear, if there's a variant that the vaccines don't combat or can't quickly be tailored to combat, we're going to be back to square one and it'll be March 2020 all over again.

We just need to accept that restrictions and lockdowns will become a regular part of life over the next decade at least. That's no bad thing in itself, lockdown was positive for many. OK businesses like nightclubs and restaurants will fail because there's no point propping them up indefinitely, but it's not a huge problem because if/when the pandemic is finally beaten, there will be plenty of staff looking for work and plenty of premises to let.

Completely disagree. We will not be back to square 1 as it’s unlikely the variant would evade the vaccine entirely or natural immunity entirely. We will also not have restrictions for the next decade.

Also @HarrietsChariot - who exactly was lockdown positive for? Really curious to know whether it was those in abusive relationships, those who lost everything, those who couldn't say goodbye to loved ones or those whose MH was in the toilet?

We just need to accept that restrictions and lockdowns will become a regular part of life over the next decade at least. That's no bad thing in itself, lockdown was positive for many. OK businesses like nightclubs and restaurants will fail because there's no point propping them up indefinitely, but it's not a huge problem because if/when the pandemic is finally beaten, there will be plenty of staff looking for work and plenty of premises to let

I genuinely seldom know on here any more which posts are genuine and which are satire. Lockdown was positive for who, exactly? Middle class, middle aged white collar workers with a study and a large garden? And that’s what we should be basing our public health policy on now? While kids, young adults, working parents, the poor, the disabled, the very elderly and those who work in the hospitality and leisure industries are all thrown under the bus?

Nothing like a new Covid variant to bring out the pandemic ghouls.

[quote riveted1]@bumbleymummy

I don't normally report posts (prefer a good debate) but in this case I have done.

It is really really unhelpful, and quite frankly, dangerous to be saying vaccines are useless and vaccinated people are effectively "unvaccinated". If one person decided not to bother getting jabbed or getting their booster because of it that would be shit.

Vaccination is now more, not less, important. A new variant will reduce efficacy, but not to zero. The more people vaccinated (and the greater level of immunity they have, which is boosted by vaccines, the better).
This is what we saw with delta and what we will see with new variants. The immune response is not binary.[/quote]
@riveted1 I am not saying that vaccines ‘are useless’ FFS, I’ve been saying we should prioritise boosters! I was saying that IF it turns out the strain is resistant to the vaccine then it makes the waste of money on T&T and vaccine passports Even more scandalous because we could have spent the money better in preparing our hospitals!

So yeah, cheers, thanks for the report

@Largethighsbadeyes yeah, I was just thinking that post sounded almost gleeful. some people just like to wallow in misery it seems