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?

It seems that the jump-out headlines "Flights Banned" is not really the full picture, there is a lot more nuance around this. Hard to get info.

@MarshaBradyo not sure exactly which day, will ask her (if she doesn't disappear into the bush again!).

Absolutely no one will listen if they try to enforce restrictions around seeing family at Christmas

No one? I think plenty of people will think twice about seeing vulnerable family members if evidence emerges to suggest the variant is more dangerous than previous ones. I also think compliance with restrictions again would happen just as soon as the death toll got ridiculous again and/or when it is clear that hospitals are utterly over-whelmed. People, on the whole, understand why it might be needed and are ready to comply if necessary.

[quote theDudesmummy]@MarshaBradyo not sure exactly which day, will ask her (if she doesn't disappear into the bush again!).[/quote]
I’m just thinking she hasn’t got long before quarantine kicks in so maybe that’s why she can her in

HarrietsChariot

Your post has so many untruths in it that you cannot for a second be taken seriously. You’re very ill informed.

No one knows what is going to happen over this variant. No one. If everything looks okay, of course people wont comply with restrictions. If deaths start climbing rapidly, most people will comply.

There is no quarantine in the country she lives in, if she has the EU Covid pass (which she does). I suppose it could change. She has dropped out of communication again! Looking on Flightradar24, all the usual evening flights out of OR Tambo to Europe are still listed (including the LHR flights).

@theDudesmummy

There is no quarantine in the country she lives in, if she has the EU Covid pass (which she does). I suppose it could change. She has dropped out of communication again! Looking on Flightradar24, all the usual evening flights out of OR Tambo to Europe are still listed (including the LHR flights).

When you say flights are banned that just means the U.K. though rather than the country she is flying to?

So is there going to be this sort of reaction every time a variant is discovered?

What if they find it in the UK ?

New "justifiable" lockdowns and vaccine passports?

Of course the vaccine passports won't make any sense from a health perspective but they don't now anyway.

What exactly is the plan here?

@julieca

No one knows what is going to happen over this variant. No one. If everything looks okay, of course people wont comply with restrictions. If deaths start climbing rapidly, most people will comply.

I think it depends on people's situations. If you are young, low risk, you're not that likely to comply and I don't blame anyone in that position either. On the flip side it's understandable that some people with vulnerable family would do what they could to protect their relatives. Both situations are understandable to me. I genuinely think people will look more to their own situations, which will influence whether they comply or not, whereas in earlier lockdowns the majority complied because they weren't so fatigued from it all.

@Sowhatifiam

Absolutely no one will listen if they try to enforce restrictions around seeing family at Christmas

No one? I think plenty of people will think twice about seeing vulnerable family members if evidence emerges to suggest the variant is more dangerous than previous ones. I also think compliance with restrictions again would happen just as soon as the death toll got ridiculous again and/or when it is clear that hospitals are utterly over-whelmed. People, on the whole, understand why it might be needed and are ready to comply if necessary.

Honestly I can see people maybe not having granny round for dinner, younger families will happily mix as frankly what the risk. We were good before we all had it now I don't see the point. Even our vulnerable family members who had vaccine failure felt rubbish for a few weeks. The current cold we have is worse than COVID

I think it depends on people's situations. If you are young, low risk, you're not that likely to comply and I don't blame anyone in that position either. On the flip side it's understandable that some people with vulnerable family would do what they could to protect their relatives. Both situations are understandable to me. I genuinely think people will look more to their own situations, which will influence whether they comply or not, whereas in earlier lockdowns the majority complied because they weren't so fatigued from it all.

I agree with this

There was a chorus of people saying they wouldn’t lockdown again after the first lockdown. They all locked down again. And they will if it’s needed again.

The media has been reporting all day that flights are "banned" from SA to this and that place, including UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain...but it seems from what she tells me, and from the fact that the flights are still all listed on Flightradar24 (and on OR Tambo website departures board) this not actually true, and I have perhaps been panicking for nothing. It looks like even the "proper" media such as the Guardian, BBC, Irish Times etc is not giving the correct picture. No new bookings are being made, she tells me, but if you have a booking on a transit flight you can get on it...

It's a nightmare.

I don’t know. We’re seeing more protests in various countries

Which weren’t there at the beginning

Plus wrt complying we have low enforcement so a lot can just be ignored

@Ohchristmastreeohchristmastree

There was a chorus of people saying they wouldn’t lockdown again after the first lockdown. They all locked down again. And they will if it’s needed again.

Well it would have been hard for them to go the pub when they were shut, wouldn't it.

I'd imagine the 'chorus' of people saying they wouldn't comply made up the numbers of people who were seeing friends in houses and not following the rules. And I imagine the same will happen again, only in higher numbers.

Time to log off Twitter I think!

Better still, consider staying off it completely; IME the thing's the sewer of the internet, and as with so much of the media you'll struggle to find balance among all the shrieking

@ktel1

So is there going to be this sort of reaction every time a variant is discovered?

What if they find it in the UK ?

New "justifiable" lockdowns and vaccine passports?

Of course the vaccine passports won't make any sense from a health perspective but they don't now anyway.

What exactly is the plan here?

Variants are found all the time and there is not this raection.

@MarshaBradyo

I think it depends on people's situations. If you are young, low risk, you're not that likely to comply and I don't blame anyone in that position either. On the flip side it's understandable that some people with vulnerable family would do what they could to protect their relatives. Both situations are understandable to me. I genuinely think people will look more to their own situations, which will influence whether they comply or not, whereas in earlier lockdowns the majority complied because they weren't so fatigued from it all.

I agree with this

If numbers of deaths really climbed, and I am not saying they will, it will affect everyone at least indirectly.

I don't know what the reporters have been smoking. Just looked up the status of the Virgin flight from JNB to LHR tonight, for example. It is leaving as usual. News outlets are making it look like the flights have stopped already (FWIW why haven't they?? So tomorrow morning several hundred people, fresh from Gauteng, get off the planes at Heathrow as usual and head for the Tube??).

@theDudesmummy

I don't know what the reporters have been smoking. Just looked up the status of the Virgin flight from JNB to LHR tonight, for example. It is leaving as usual. News outlets are making it look like the flights have stopped already (FWIW why haven't they?? So tomorrow morning several hundred people, fresh from Gauteng, get off the planes at Heathrow as usual and head for the Tube??).

That flight is showing as cancelled on Virgin Atlantic's website. I think some websites are just slower to update than others. BA's flights are showing as cancelled too.

Have you been looking at the airlines' websites? That's probably the place to get the most up to date info.

@vickyc90 not all of us that are really vulnerable are "granny"
I'm mid thirties...

www.reuters.com/world/south-africa-calls-british-travel-ban-over-new-covid-19-variant-rushed-2021-11-26/

Virgin has now changed to cancelled, I see (changed since I looked a few minutes ago). Air France I cannot find any info anywhere. My daughter tell me that transit passengers on Air France will be "fine" but I have no idea where she is getting this from. IOf the flight os cancelled it does not matter what kind of passenger you are. She still has not told me when she was due to fly or whether she managed to get a PCR test today.