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?

There's a case of the new variant in Belgium

@luverlybubberly

There's a case of the new variant in Belgium

Linked to travel though?

Op you are clutching at straws..... but I think you know that, don't you!?

It needs a certain degree of intelligence to understand the news, it seems. I suppose that is why so many rely on SM to condense it and make it simple for them in terms that they can understand. And therefore so many end up with their heads filled with conspiracy theories, outright lies and jingoism.

OP I agree with you. South Africa along with the UK is a world leader with genome sequencing. Bet they'll think twice before sharing information in a hurry again.

And no, no-one actually knows yet that this is so much worse a variant. There has been as usual absolutely disgusting scaremongering from the usual suspects.

Of course, no white people live in Africa. Oh hang on 🤔

They're hardly the majority.

no

Agree, this is what scientists said would happen if vaccines were not shared with the poorest countries.

Sharing is all fine, but it won't solve the vaccine hesitancy problem which is prevalent in the poorest countries.

If it was all motivated by racism I assume they would have shut down flights to india a bit faster.

I think they fucked it up during delta and are trying not to make the same mistake again given not that much is known about this variant currently.

Also ther have been problems with infrastructure, availability of staff to give vaccines, vaccine scepticism, vaccines have been binned in some countries. It’s not straightforward but agree in principle that it is a priority to get as many people vaccinated globally as possible for everyones sakes.

Just look at germany, they have plenty of vaccines but there are enough Germans who don’t want them to have potentially created ICU shortages there.

Of course it’s racist. Flights from Southern Africa have been stopped because those countries are full of black people.

🙄

@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.

I think you have misunderstood what you heard on the news. At this stage it is believed vaccines could be up to 40% less effective. It’s also said restrictions can’t stop it but they can hopefully delay it so that we have time to find out much more about the variant and get more people given a booster.

It’s not racist.

When most of the world slammed its door on us right back at the beginning, it wasn’t racist. It was Governments being cautious.

It felt awful.

Especially since the other regions were also not exactly welcoming of anybody from Lombardia at the time. Again, not an indication of Lega Nord’s New Friend from T’other end of the country. Just lots of very scared people and cautious regional and national governments.

Still felt awful. Understandable. But awful. Like we were the lepers of the planet. I’d immagine it felt even worse than that for the people of Codogno.

“Coronapizza” not only felt awful, it whiffed strongly of xenophobia.

It’s not all that hard to tell the difference between gov. being cautious for the sake of their populations and somebody kicking you when you are already down. Despite both feeling awful. Even at the sharp end and feeling somewhat sensitive about all the headlines you end up seeing the other perspective in the former. But for the latter, at least in my neck of the woods a great deal of people still bear something of a grudge, even after all this time.

I've heard it all now.

🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

LOL what an idiotic thing to suggest OP 🙄

No.

Really, no.

Why would that even cross your mind?

I've read the article that 61 out of 600 passengers from SA tested positive at Dutch airport. And they all took test prior to the flight.

nos.nl/artikel/2407230-61-van-600-passagiers-uit-zuid-afrika-positief-getest-variant-nog-onduidelijk

So, yeah, it was a great decision by gov to act swiftly. Otherwise many who may be positive would have been in the country.

@BlowBadness

It originated in vaccinated people according to a press release today from the Government of Botswana, so yes, it can evade the vaccine because that's how it developed, you should get the booster to cover the existing strains of covid then I think it needs to be a full lockdown including schools until the bopffins come up with a shot for this sneaky variant. it should happen pretty quickly, hoefully by February when a lot of the mandates (our NHS & Austria's full compulsory vacciones) kick in.

Vaccine evasion isn’t usually a binary thing. Yes, the efficacy might drop. That doesn’t mean vaccines won’t still prevent severe disease for a majority of people.

It’s too soon for panic posting like this.

Many countries restricted travel from the UK when the "Kent" variant took off last year so it's really no different.

This new variant could have emerged anywhere. Actually it's a good reminder that case numbers do matter because high cases equals higher chance of mutations.

No it wasn't racist. Don't you remember the French slamming the borders with the UK shut last Christmas because of the Kent/Alpha variant, closely followed by other European countries?