Who's afraid of the [S]Xi[/S] [S]Nu[/S] Omicron variant?

[mattster]

All pandemics mutate into less dangerous variants because it's not advantageous to kill your host. Our problem is the state, which is reluctant to give up its emergency powers.

Bit of a sweeping statement, and clearly not true. Did smallpox ever become milder? It killed a significant percentage of the world's population for hundreds of years. The selective pressures on Covid now are to be more transmissable and to evade immunity, as a larger percentage of potential targets are vaxxed/have already had it. Anything else is pot luck.

[d000hg]

All pandemics mutate into less dangerous variants because it's not advantageous to kill your host.

balderdash. You're parroting things without stopping to think.

[d000hg]

Just thought it'd be interesting to see how many frightened sheep are here.

When the medical experts of the world are worried, and advising governments to act urgently, I would say it's reasonable to have some level of concern especially given the timing as winter appears, when even the common cold is causing havoc.

Are you going to join an anti-lockdown protest somewhere? Or is this just a poke at BR14?

[SueEllen]

Just thought it'd be interesting to see how many frightened sheep are here.

The Swiss government is clearly "frightened" and the majority of the population backs it's measures. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-59380745

I guess they are all sheep......

[malvolio]

When the medical experts of the world are worried, and advising governments to act urgently, I would say it's reasonable to have some level of concern especially given the timing as winter appears, when even the common cold is causing havoc.

Are you going to join an anti-lockdown protest somewhere? Or is this just a poke at BR14?

Nobody is saying Omicron is dangerous or exceptional yet, evidence from SA is that it is no more lethal than Delta. What is happening is that countries are limiting its spread as best they can until they have a better idea what it is they are dealing with. then the response may well change, in either direction. Some medical experts* are urging extreme measures, but that is simply not justified.


*We have our very own one, a politically-inspired ninny on the Sage panel demanding that we go back into full lockdown immediately, regardless of the damage that will cause. They are aiming for zero Covid, which is unattainable.

[d000hg]

Nobody is saying Omicron is dangerous or exceptional yet, evidence from SA is that it is no more lethal than Delta. What is happening is that countries are limiting its spread as best they can until they have a better idea what it is they are dealing with. then the response may well change, in either direction. Some medical experts* are urging extreme measures, but that is simply not justified.

In what world are emergency border closures not 'extreme'?
It is the uncertainty which makes worry appropriate, rather than fear. There's no reason to think it's more lethal but so what? If it's equally lethal but more transmissible and evades immunity, that's very serious when we still have R>=1.0 and a very high baseline of cases and infected population size.
It's not quite as bad as last time round but it turns out Omicron can transmit easily through our vaccinated population and is even nearly as dangerous, it's still very serious and we can expect an extreme response.

You seem to want to make it black and white: either it's super-virulent and lethal, or we don't need to care. This is clearly not the case.

[mattster]

In what world are emergency border closures not 'extreme'?
It is the uncertainty which makes worry appropriate, rather than fear. There's no reason to think it's more lethal but so what? If it's equally lethal but more transmissible and evades immunity, that's very serious when we still have R>=1.0 and a very high baseline of cases and infected population size.
It's not quite as bad as last time round but it turns out Omicron can transmit easily through our vaccinated population and is even nearly as dangerous, it's still very serious and we can expect an extreme response.

You seem to want to make it black and white: either it's super-virulent and lethal, or we don't need to care. This is clearly not the case.

Exactly right. It doesn't matter if it has exactly the same outcomes as delta if it evades immunity - then we are back to square one. They're obviously pretty worried about it because this is the most concerted global response we've seen to a new variant to date, so hopefully they've just cottoned on to the precautionary principle and not heard something worrying that we haven't yet been told. Some people are saying it has been proven to be milder, but as far as I know this is based on one anecdotal from a single doctor in SA who treated < 10 student age patients - in whom disease would be expected to be mild due to age. Even she caveated strongly, unlike most of the twitterati who are proclaiming this as a fact. It could be milder, of course, but I think we have to wait and see - ideally whilst it isn't rampaging through our own population.

[Lost It]

Why did they have to make up some fancy name when "Variant Echo" would have done?

[Lost It]

Bit of a sweeping statement, and clearly not true. Did smallpox ever become milder? It killed a significant percentage of the world's population for hundreds of years. The selective pressures on Covid now are to be more transmissable and to evade immunity, as a larger percentage of potential targets are vaxxed/have already had it. Anything else is pot luck.

Isn't it more that over time the human immune system naturally develops immunity to whatever doesn't kill it?

Things like Smallpox are not reaklly structured the same as flu type viruses, they attack a different part of the body so it's debateable whether we would ever have become immune to such diseases. But the difference is that the Covid type bugs are Virus, and I don't think it's quite the same as a disease although I'm willing to be proved wrong.

[NotAllThere]

When the medical experts of the world are worried, and advising governments to act urgently, I would say it's reasonable to have some level of concern especially given the timing as winter appears, when even the common cold is causing havoc.

Are you going to join an anti-lockdown protest somewhere? Or is this just a poke at BR14?

Being concerned # being worried #being a frightened sheep.

I'm surprised anyone voted yes tbh.

The Swiss vote shows that the majority are not frightened of needles, nor of the vaccine. Unless the sheeple minority who believe any old crap as long as it isn't from MSM