Is the management of Covid a teensy bit racist?

[QualityChecked]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59428398

I can't help thinking that if the new variant was in America or Western Europe, the action would have been less extreme.

Or is it just sensible management of the situation, as it's in a continent that will have less economic impact on UK?

@QualityChecked

I just think thisnis being dealt with very differently to other new variants. Maybe because lessons have been learned.

Notice has been given of other changes to restrictions, even in the very recent past.

Plus surely it's naive to think we can actually stop it arriving anyway? Once once case is in, it's here.

They probably want to try and delay it until more is known. Its believed the vaccine may not be effective against it, but thankfully hospitalizations in areas it has already spread are apparently low, so perhaps it won't be as bad. Yes we would close off travel if it was somewhere else, we have finally learnt.

Germany, Italy, Israel and Singapore are among the countries that have also implemented travel restrictions on southern African countries after the emergence of the variant, while the European Commission has said it will propose to halt air travel from the region across the EU.

From the BBC link - it's not just the UK worried.

To be fair some sciencists think the vaccine will offer some protection still - as other Coronavirus infections seem to but they don't know yet - as it's just been found and is being studied so there a uncertain and currently hard to quantify risk and for once the UK governemnt wants to be cautious.

There have been other concerning varieties but they haven't taken off - so again they need to monitor the situation - and the hope is travel ban might give little more time to do that.

Ok then, we finally learnt the time it was Africa..

Vaccine appears less likely to work with this variant! You misheard the news report as they’ve mentioned this a number of times when explaining why it’s different.

I've read the person who has this variant in HK is fully vaccinated and currently asymptomatic, only picked up because of quarantine. So it really makes sense to close border early.

@QualityChecked part of it is South Africa and Botswana etc have high tech labs that are able to identify variants quickly and they’ve also been superbly transparent in sharing the evidence and raising this.

YABU

The WHO is advising against travel restrictions.

It is what we should have done with Delta! It won't stop it coming here but hopefully will buy us some time to understand it better before it does.

The WHO is total shit for brains. All countries should buy time here.

@Underparmummy

It is what we should have done with Delta! It won't stop it coming here but hopefully will buy us some time to understand it better before it does.

Delta is everywhere now. We would have gained a few weeks but been hit as everywhere else has been now.

Er, yes, as I said. Every day scientists get before it reaches us helps...

This is a ridiculous, and distracts from instances of racism where they genuinely do exist. Focus on the things that you know, actually are racist, perhaps?

This is an example of the government actually handling something properly in this pandemic and trying to make sure we can avoid awful restrictions, trying to make the best decision for the vast majority of UK citizens, health, livelihoods and businesses.

@QualityChecked

The WHO is advising against travel restrictions.

Why?

We have been criticised for not being faster and they say don’t?

@Underparmummy

Er, yes, as I said. Every day scientists get before it reaches us helps...

In hindsight what change would there be?

What would those two / three weeks have given us

Because the WHO are idiots and have shown it many times @MarshaBradyo including during this pandemic.

@LumosSolem

Because the WHO are idiots and have shown it many times *@MarshaBradyo* including during this pandemic.

They said act on Alpha variant

We had 44 countries change travel

They seem random on this

I listened to the scientists say so on the news last night

They are saying the exact opposite. 🙄

The mutations could potentially make the variant more transmissible and evade the protection given by prior infection or vaccination.

Source: RTE news.

This variation is particularly worrying due to its high number of mutations.

I can't see how what our government have done in response to this new variant is anything but sensible tbh. To allow time to consider a course of action and hopefully with minimal changes to our lives again.

They can't keep asking people to lockdown or restrict their lives if they make appalling decisions and don't take sensible steps at an early stage. They're well aware that a huge number of people won't comply with restrictions any longer so want to do all they can to avoid it. That is my hope anyway.

Don't think it's racist OP.

I do think it’s wise to act quickly too.

In hindsight I don’t care as much about delta as it’s everywhere now

But for this, politically it makes sense

And we are entering winter so time is actually a factor - although obviously it’s only pushed back for so long if an issue

So being seen as racist is worse than loads of people potentially dying because people carrying the new variant aren't stopped from travelling ?

@Pixiedust1234

I keep reading thats its the worse varient yet, even compared to the original from wuhan which has killed hundreds of thousands of people in two years. That's not fucking racism

The original Wuhan variant was pretty mild compared and far less transmissible than what came after... The Alpha variant last winter was about 50% more transmissible than the Wuhan variant... then the Delta variant was about 50% more transmissible and significantly more vaccine evasive than Alpha, and massively more transmissible than the original.

@MarshaBradyo

I do think it’s wise to act quickly too.

In hindsight I don’t care as much about delta as it’s everywhere now

But for this, politically it makes sense

And we are entering winter so time is actually a factor - although obviously it’s only pushed back for so long if an issue

Agreed and there's nothing we can do about delta now but if there's a chance we can take some kind of action now that potentially minimises the effect on our lives then it makes sense to at least try, buying time can only be a good thing. Particularly if it's the case that vaccines can be tweaked quickly etc.

No.