Omicron New Variant Thread 2 *title edited by MNHQ at OP's request*

[Thewiseoneincognito]

Continuation of the last thread

I am in Gauteng, and I have not opened any of the posted links, as tbh it can just get too overwhelming.

I listen to interviews with the scientific team, professors and then there are people I know who are personally affected.

I know that the largest public hospital has had to increase their pead icu unit. There are a lot of children admitted, but some were already ill and contracted covid, and many are immuno compromised.

The symptoms are different with this strain. From what I have seen personally is more children / teenagers testing postive, and the symptoms are headaches (seems to be the first symptom), extreme tiredness and a cough. There doesn't seem to be the loss of taste, really sore throat, high temp from previous strains. It seems to be affecting those more who had Beta or Delta strain previously.

I think that there are many more cases than reported, but this is just my opinion. Our school year is coming to a close now for the year for the summer break. My dd is in her final year of school which has been exceptionally tough. They had the year cut short due to previous lockdown, then did prelim exams and then just a few weeks later went onto write finals. I know this has nothing to do with the strain, but I am not the only parent who now believes that our teens have already picked up this strain and we had brushed the excessive tiredness, headaches etc off as stress from finals. A lot of her friends also had this 'dip' but they did still continue with exams as normal.

Most of the positive teens I know now who are double vaccinated seem to be having very mild symptoms. Those who aren't, seem less mild but by no means ill enough to be hospitalized. There are more under 12s (who have not been vaccinated) having quite mild symptoms, I personally knew very few kids testing postive the previous times. The only adults that I know who are currently postive, have had covid previously.

The icu unit at my local hospital does not have any new variant cases, although they still have some patients who have not yet recovered from what is assumed is the Delta strain.

As I mentioned, I haven't clicked on any links, but this is my experience as I see things at the moment.

The area I live in has a higher than average vaccination rate so I do think this is a factor in the milder cases around me.

I would like to say that everyone is taking this seriously, but it's not really the case. School leavers are planning parties, the rages were still going ahead but then cancelled right at the 11th hour. One of them, only into the 2nd day of it.

We expect an address from the President soon to confirm we are officially in the 4th wave.

From today's stats, 16 388 cases and 23.8% positivity rate.

Last month we had barely 200 a day.

Isthis good to get info from the area

@Firefliess

A few weeks ago the press reported on new drugs that had been found to keep 95% of people out of hospital if given early on. They said the UK had several hundred thousand of these ordered, but didn't say when they would arrive. It seems to me that drugs are the one thing that might still work against Omicron - does anyone know when they'll be available in the UK, or how many doses?

The only other option i can see is reopening the nightingale hospitals, stocking up on oxygen and accepting that everything else (closing schools, masks, wfh, etc) will just create a slight delay on the inevitable.

Is it selfish that after nearly two years of this and being vaccinated plus happy to get boosters I just want the option of getting in with my own life as I see fit? I’m tired of sacrificing to protect others.

Not being able to plan anything and the level of government interference in my life has just become exhausting. I don’t even have children so I imagine for all of you that have had to home school etc it’s even worse.

Yes, the impact on the health system is an issue but the fact remains that for the majority of vaccinated people this is still a very mild disease.

I live in Australia and I am more scared of the reaction of my government (mostly my state government ) than I am of Covid.

I live in Australia for

Really good to hear from Gauteng, thanks for posting.

Can I ask, is it correct that in SA vaccine hesitancy is more common among whites than blacks - the opposite of in the UK?

Posting before reading but I bet this is good:

mobile.twitter.com/trvrb/status/1467245887357210624

I had wondered how relevant was the possibility of immunocompromised children being affected; thank you for the update.

I think the detail in medical reports on the affected patients in GP is going to be very important in putting together our early understanding of what we are facing.

SA have been wonderful in releasing the information so selflessly.

Interesting discovery:

For the past week virologist Sarah Palmer and her colleagues at The Westmead Institute’s Centre for Virus Research in Sydney have been working overtime to unlock the secrets of COVID-19's Omicron variant.>"Omicron includes a spike protein mutation that makes it more infectious, but also includes a mutation on the spike protein that may allow it to reduce vaccine effectiveness," Palmer says.

It's important to emphasise that these discoveries are brand new, and further investigations are essential, however the latest clues about the nature of Omicron include a concerning finding.

When the virus is studied from another direction — by exploring the nucleocapsid, another viral protein which contributes to viral replication, rather than the spike protein — Palmer says her team found Omicron may have been created by what's called a "recombination" – a supercharged love child of the early Alpha variant plus Delta, something that has not been found in SARS-CoV-2 until now.

"We're very, very concerned," Palmer says, relaying the discovery with a calm and measured voice that belies its seriousness. "It indicates that possibly we could see that variants can recombine and if somebody is infected with two variants there could be a recombination that could lead to a more pathogenic and infectious virus."

Latest analysis of South Africa data by John Burn-Murdoch:

mobile.twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1467270450111787012

I'm glad masks are coming back for this winter in the UK (they never went away where I am).

But even among the very COVID-cautious people I know personally (in the UK and elsewhere), the panic seems very muted this time.

People in the UK have said they are planning to mask up again, but not make any other changes to their lifestyle and certainly not changing their plans to socialize and see people this winter. And that's true even among the people I know who reacted very fearfully to Delta.

Omicron really does look quite infectious. And even if it is milder, the sheer numbers of infected people could still add up to a lot of pressure on hospitals and beds.

So I am not sure what will happen in hospitals and healthcare services in general this winter.... but, to quote Ron Weasley in The Deathly Hallows, "We'll just have to wing it, mate." Because the tolerance for anything other than quite light measures (masking up and stopping mass events etc) is going to be quite low. I mean, I don't mind the mask and have got my flu jabs and booster, but I have no intention of cancelling my domestic holiday or social events either.

@JanglyBeads

Really good to hear from Gauteng, thanks for posting.

Can I ask, is it correct that in SA vaccine hesitancy is more common among whites than blacks - the opposite of in the UK?

I think it is a bit of a mixed bag. For various reasons.

There are a lot of conspiracy theories who believe there is an ulterior motive.

There is a strong belief that the vaccine is not properly tested and can result in long term harm.

Many people do not trust the government. As it a government led vaccine roll out, there is a lot of mistrust about it.

I'm some of the cultures families are very large and many of the older generation are not well educated and don't have access to technology, social media etc. So I have seen where one of the younger generation in the family falls into point 1 or 2 and have discouraged the older folk (and the whole family) from vaccinating

We received our vaccines much later than Europe, and so many wanted to look to what happened in EU/UK after that roll out. And when the cases were not dropping and then even climbing, some felt that there was no point in getting the vaccine. They are only looking as cases though, and not the drop in death rates.

There are many companies and institutions (universities) who have mandated vaccines. And it was mentioned that there is a very strong possibility that government are going to implement mandatory vaccines for entry to public places, restaurants etc.

I would say that white Afrikaans are the least willing (and most verbal) re the vaccine. Indian, and then the black population. Although not all, of course, but this seems to be those who are the most opposed.

The government are trying every which way to increase the uptake. From offering transport vouchers with every vaccine, now food vouchers to spend at a local supermarket, and I see now there is even a cash lucky draw.

I will check the numbers to see the increase this week, as there is a big drive on again now.

If nobody has died from this new variant and it's as mild as they are saying it is, why do people still need to isolate for 10 days?
People won't bother with tests or want to follow the rules if it means they can't work or go anywhere. I can see a massive backlash here if it turns out to be little more than the sniffles.
It will make people think it's just a complete over reaction , or all about control.
The ones who are unvaccinated are also less likely to follow any of the rules too.
Bringing in any more restrictions won't be easy if the symptoms mean only a day or two to recover ( such as you might for a normal cold)
10 days is a long time.

Has anyone heard if Omigod Omicron is testing positive on lateral flows.? DS 13 had Covid in October had jab in November and now has a snotty nose and cough with a negative lateral flow for past 3 days.I know this cough and cold are doing the rounds because I know people who have had it with negative ltfs but now I’m doubting myself and ltf.

Those makes of lateral flow they’ve tested it on so far have all picked it up, but not all have been tested.

@the80sweregreat it’s too early to know death rates yet. At this point we know that it can still result in hospitalisations and ICU admissions. There’s the question of long covid too.

A survey last week (was it ONS?) showed very good support for further measures actually.

[quote manolantern]Latest analysis of South Africa data by John Burn-Murdoch:

mobile.twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1467270450111787012[/quote]
If you haven't read this thread yet READ it.

On the whole its potentially good news. The cavet being the sheer number of cases at the same time and the perhaps worrying younger age profile.

Expect a big push from government on this this week on younger groups where uptake on vaccines is lower. I am fully expecting the approval of 5 - 11 vaccination for vulnerable children at the very least to happen this week too.

I hope so

Yes, they really need to approve vaccines for 5-11 year olds asap. The rollouts in my older children’s schools were not great - local vaccination teams were too challenged and run out of Covid vaccine very quickly after making children queue for ages.
I think they should just offer in walk in centres/hubs ASAP. I do understand why they chose schools for inoculation/consent etc- also due to equal access for all children. But in the interests of time it should be the big hubs with a parent present. Makes consent easier too.

@Incognito22333

Yes, they really need to approve vaccines for 5-11 year olds asap. The rollouts in my older children’s schools were not great - local vaccination teams were too challenged and run out of Covid vaccine very quickly after making children queue for ages. I think they should just offer in walk in centres/hubs ASAP. I do understand why they chose schools for inoculation/consent etc- also due to equal access for all children. But in the interests of time it should be the big hubs with a parent present. Makes consent easier too.

A friend at a local high school had told me they had vaccinators in for two days. With 150 doses each day.

The school had over 2500 pupils. Lots of kids who wanted one, didn't get one. They didn't know when the vaccinators were next coming in either.

I just dont understand the logic of doing this.

[quote milkyaqua]Interesting discovery:

For the past week virologist Sarah Palmer and her colleagues at The Westmead Institute’s Centre for Virus Research in Sydney have been working overtime to unlock the secrets of COVID-19's Omicron variant.>"Omicron includes a spike protein mutation that makes it more infectious, but also includes a mutation on the spike protein that may allow it to reduce vaccine effectiveness," Palmer says.

It's important to emphasise that these discoveries are brand new, and further investigations are essential, however the latest clues about the nature of Omicron include a concerning finding.

When the virus is studied from another direction — by exploring the nucleocapsid, another viral protein which contributes to viral replication, rather than the spike protein — Palmer says her team found Omicron may have been created by what's called a "recombination" – a supercharged love child of the early Alpha variant plus Delta, something that has not been found in SARS-CoV-2 until now.

"We're very, very concerned," Palmer says, relaying the discovery with a calm and measured voice that belies its seriousness. "It indicates that possibly we could see that variants can recombine and if somebody is infected with two variants there could be a recombination that could lead to a more pathogenic and infectious virus."

It's a recombinant virus?

Fuck.

@PrincessNutNuts like you'd ever even heard of a recombinant virus before you read that 🙄

[quote weddingguesttbc]@PrincessNutNuts like you'd ever even heard of a recombinant virus before you read that 🙄[/quote]
I know 😂

Could that be why South Africa is so effected - they never had an Alpha wave?

Plus it is clear the concern isnt the Omicron is a recombinant but that it has the ability to (at least that is my reading of the article)

But they had Beta, didn’t they?

A thread on why omicron is bad news even if its effects might be “milder” than delta:

twitter.com/bristoliver/status/1465803772609794051?s=21