A new variant, more negative news.
Fact is, it is far too early to know anything concrete about this variant and already the news is contradicting itself. They are overly negative for views.
Some more positive points:
- South Africa has great genome testing and does a lot more advanced testing than neighbouring countries due to their expertise from HIV testing. It is no surprise they discovered it and very possible other countries missed it. The sequence of this variant points to being older than two weeks. Hence, it is likely it already existed and SA have been the first to pick it up. Why is this good? It means it has potentially been circulating for months, so if it has only just been noticed, it is less likely to be the extra transmissible nightmare as the media state.
- SA is not a good country to make predictions from. They have a low vaccine rate, yet had unusually low infections. Any strain would take a great hold, so it's impossible to say that its "ripping through," when the population is largely unvaccinated. Data cannot be extrapolated to majority vaccinated countries at this point in time.
- It has new spike protein additions. Concerning? Yes. Definitely a problem? No. They could just be changes that have barely any impact. It's just as feasible to assume the best, as well as the worst.
- Even if this is a more transmissible strain or resistant strain, it is highly unlikely it would completely evade vaccines or not offer defense against severe illness.
We are not back at the beginning. Be cautious and mindful with the media you consume. Get a booster vaccine.
Some less negative articles:
www.reddit.com/r/CoronavirusUK/comments/r2k067/new_variant_will_not_take_us_back_to_square_one/