News Coronavirus (COVID-19) Discussion Thread IV

[Shinboner1]

I'm guessing that with all the rapid tests being done at home that numbers for lab tests have decreased heaps. Just a guess.

they've also moved from testing being mandatory after every shift to it 3 times over a 7 day period. 1 nasal/throat and 2 saliva minimum.
All self surveillance of course.
I also didn't realise that there was a grace period between having covid and not being able to test again.
There must be some time when it stays in your body or still comes up positive?

 

[ferball]

It matters in the sense - I, like most are fully vaccinated, have no underlying health conditions and am not elderly, so can/do we safely assume this recent COVID Omicron wave poses no threat of serious illness or worse to us..?
While I understand people not dying or in ICU doesn't promote headlines, it would be nice occasionally if the media chose to 'educate', rather than 'entertain' with their related reporting...

Its not an either or question. (Most things aren't.) Its a probability spectrum. Anyone can get ****ed up from anything, theoretically. The odds of you getting ****ed up from Omicron are very low. Its not a yes or no answer its more a 99.99% vs 0.01% chance, or more realistically alot lower.

If the media were educating you, instead of running various PR for hire gigs, then you'd know that studies about Omicron are showing that it doesn't cause the sort of infection that results in the severe illness we've seen in previous variants. Some show the virus has mutated, or even more accurately evolved^ to target other cells than lung cells for infection. This seems to have made it more transmissible and less dangerous (because what makes it more transmissible makes it less dangerous. Its actually fascinating.)

You'd also know that people don't end up on ventilators as often and that the Oxygen demand for hospitalised patients is lower. Because that is what the latest data from the UK and South Africa (where infections are mostly Omicron) is showing.

So the real world data matches the outcomes you'd expect from what the earliest science about Omicron says. This is a very encouraging thing btw.

You'd know that Omicron appears to be more transmissible (well you probably do as that's one thing they have reported) and you'd know that while previous infection with delta and vaccination both seem ineffective against Omicron infection (again they haven't missed that tho they didn't mentioned boosters are the same yet,) it looks like Omicron infection will provide great protection against delta and previous variants including good protection against infection. Still early days tho so that needs to be confirmed.

How much of all that did you know thru the media?

^I say evolved because it looks like this is a serious change. Its not just a mutation but a mutation that has completely changed how the virus works. The mutation, or specifically the change on the spike protein surface, means the virus binds to upper respiratory tract cells with alot more affinity and to lungs cells with alot less affinity. ie Omicron finds it harder to enter lung cells and easier to enter bronchial cells because of these changes.

This means it produces more virus to infect other cells in a better spot to transmit that virus to other hosts. Which is why I say its evolved to be more effective at transmitting to other people. Its gonna get around easier and we've all seen that is the case across the world.

By definition this change means its also less dangerous to the host. In order to become more effective at spreading to other people it has to operate in a way that does less damage. Millions of years of feedback loops made this happen.

Evolution is awesome.

 

[ferball]

I just tested positive FFS tomorrow I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE FREE

All the best and get well soon.

 

[deanc]

Someone can be living with a chronic illness for years, and they may have a reasonable expectation of living for many more. And then they catch COVID, and they're done.

To downplay their death, effectively saying they shouldn't really count because something was going to get them eventually, is firstly heartless, and secondly, IMO, a deliberate attempt to make the virus sound less serious.

If someone was alive last week, then they caught COVID, and then they died, then I think it is reasonable to attribute that death to COVID. The whole "with/from" COVID thing has never sat well with me.

Agree with most of that, but I'm basically critiquing the media's constant 'headlines only' reporting style on the COVID pandemic - so, respectfully, I'm really not sure what you are replying to or attempting to debate..?

Here is an article from today opposing my view, great, more of this please:

What are the symptoms of COVID-19 and when should you seek medical attention?

Health authorities say for most people who are vaccinated against COVID-19, it is a mild illness that can be managed at home and that only people with severe symptoms should call triple-0 or go to hospital.

www.abc.net.au

 

[SonofSamsquanch]

The good news now is that you will plenty of time to read the dad jokes thread from the first post again.

There are some dad jokes there, but quite a few "dad's jokes" as well. Ligga's might be a bit young for those ones.




Ligma - my son missed getting a dose when all of his mates caught it as he was in hospital but they caught up yesterday. The worst they suffered was a sore throat for a few days so they said. You're fit so you should be OK too.

Please post your shopping list though so that gokangas can buy you all the goodies you need.

 

[SonofSamsquanch]

I say evolved because it looks like this is a serious change. Its not just a mutation but a mutation that has completely changed how the virus works. The mutation, or specifically the change on the spike protein surface, means the virus binds to upper respiratory tract cells with alot more affinity and to lungs cells with alot less affinity. ie Omicron finds it harder to enter lung cells and easier to enter bronchial cells because of these changes.

This means it produces more virus to infect other cells in a better spot to transmit that virus to other hosts. Which is why I say its evolved to be more effective at transmitting to other people. Its gonna get around easier and we've all seen that is the case across the world.

By definition this change means its also less dangerous to the host. In order to become more effective at spreading to other people it has to operate in a way that does less damage. Millions of years of feedback loops made this happen.

Evolution is awesome.

This is exactly what was predicted by some of the scientists even in the early days of the pandemic. Hopefully it does become a "common cold" and things can return to real normal.

 

[Ligma]

There are some dad jokes there, but quite a few "dad's jokes" as well. Ligga's might be a bit young for those ones.




Ligma - my son missed getting a dose when all of his mates caught it as he was in hospital but they caught up yesterday. The worst they suffered was a sore throat for a few days so they said. You're fit so you should be OK too.

Please post your shopping list though so that gokangas can buy you all the goodies you need.

Is your son okay????

My shopping list:

• blue glassons corset
• blue poppy lissiman bag
• push pull jumper
• small loan of a million dollars

 

[SonofSamsquanch]

Is your son okay????

My shopping list:

• blue glassons corset
• blue poppy lissiman bag
• push pull jumper
• small loan of a million dollars

Yeah - he's OK.

You forgot the diamondtina g-banga.

 

[Nate7]

Yeah - he's OK.

You forgot the diamondtina g-banga.

Ah yes, the central west shire of qld.
Must be a good beach there!

 

[DuckYeah]

The country is in a metaphorical war, and has been for the last 2+ years.

Now imagine if companies were allowed to be profiteers during an actual war. We wouldn't allow it to occur. Instead here, we 'investigate', yet do nothing to stop them.

So they get fined, but have ******ed the ability of the community to recover and move on. It is just so goddamn reactive.

Oh its a war of populism, nationalism, misinformation and the distrust in science. There is zero doubt about it!

Edit. Its sincerely unfortunate this pandemic didnt wipe out more morons.. the next one will

 

[DuckYeah]

They have literally killed off a large chunk of their voting base. There are elections that will be decided by less than the number of conservatives that have died due to the virus.

There are graphs (couldn't find them) that show the death toll and rate by state. Red states are the winners, and by a long margin.

There is, however. Elections are never about the “rusted on” voters. Its always the swing voters who flip flop on emotions and campaigns. I doubt Trump will win 2024. However Republicans can definitely win control of the senate come mid terms.

 

[SonofSamsquanch]

Covid home medication kit on OzBargain... https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/678450

 

[Lomas]

The country is in a metaphorical war, and has been for the last 2+ years.

Now imagine if companies were allowed to be profiteers during an actual war. We wouldn't allow it to occur. Instead here, we 'investigate', yet do nothing to stop them.

So they get fined, but have ******ed the ability of the community to recover and move on. It is just so goddamn reactive.

Unfortunately many, many companies profiteer during all types of war. And certain sections of society applaud them for it.
Wars are very rarely waged for the benefit of us plebs.

 

[ferball]

Ah yes, the central west shire of qld.
Must be a good beach there!

Elly was from the Diamontina river country.

 

[SonofSamsquanch]

Elly was from the Diamontina river country.

She was. Although she moved down to the coast I think.

 

[ferball]

The Gold Coast. Its a shithole. Good thing we didn't follow her lead.

 

[Shinboner1]

Spoken to some people today about the frustration with regards to lockdown and getting vaccinated etc. Constantly sighting the fact that govt said we'd be back to normal once we got to 90-95%. Not to be mean but don't people realise that was before delta and omicron even existed? How do I explain that atm we just have to roll with the punches and try to plan ahead as best we can as a nation?

 

[KiwiRoo]

Thought this was an interesting piece explaining the big rise & fall in Omicron cases that the US, UK and South Africa had experienced
Also an interesting comparison between Omicron and Delta infection rates where Scientists now think they are pretty close to each other in terms of how many people each variant infects in a period of time.

Covid-19: Inside an Omicron wave – understanding the rise and fall

You’ve seen the vertical line in Australia, the US, the UK. It’s likely coming to a town near you. But there’s a sliver of hope in the avalanche.

www.stuff.co.nz

 

[The acurate one]

Its not an either or question. (Most things aren't.) Its a probability spectrum. Anyone can get f’ed up from anything, theoretically. The odds of you getting f’ed up from Omicron are very low. Its not a yes or no answer its more a 99.99% vs 0.01% chance, or more realistically alot lower.

If the media were educating you, instead of running various PR for hire gigs, then you'd know that studies about Omicron are showing that it doesn't cause the sort of infection that results in the severe illness we've seen in previous variants. Some show the virus has mutated, or even more accurately evolved^ to target other cells than lung cells for infection. This seems to have made it more transmissible and less dangerous (because what makes it more transmissible makes it less dangerous. Its actually fascinating.)

You'd also know that people don't end up on ventilators as often and that the Oxygen demand for hospitalised patients is lower. Because that is what the latest data from the UK and South Africa (where infections are mostly Omicron) is showing.

So the real world data matches the outcomes you'd expect from what the earliest science about Omicron says. This is a very encouraging thing btw.

You'd know that Omicron appears to be more transmissible (well you probably do as that's one thing they have reported) and you'd know that while previous infection with delta and vaccination both seem ineffective against Omicron infection (again they haven't missed that tho they didn't mentioned boosters are the same yet,) it looks like Omicron infection will provide great protection against delta and previous variants including good protection against infection. Still early days tho so that needs to be confirmed.

How much of all that did you know thru the media?

^I say evolved because it looks like this is a serious change. Its not just a mutation but a mutation that has completely changed how the virus works. The mutation, or specifically the change on the spike protein surface, means the virus binds to upper respiratory tract cells with alot more affinity and to lungs cells with alot less affinity. ie Omicron finds it harder to enter lung cells and easier to enter bronchial cells because of these changes.

This means it produces more virus to infect other cells in a better spot to transmit that virus to other hosts. Which is why I say its evolved to be more effective at transmitting to other people. Its gonna get around easier and we've all seen that is the case across the world.

By definition this change means its also less dangerous to the host. In order to become more effective at spreading to other people it has to operate in a way that does less damage. Millions of years of feedback loops made this happen.

Evolution is awesome.

Well said Ferbs- yet again I might add and interestingly...

All plan B Covid restrictions, including mask wearing, to end in England

 

[The acurate one]

Unfortunately many, many companies profiteer during all types of war. And certain sections of society applaud them for it.
Wars are very rarely waged for the benefit of us plebs.

Yep big business is war- Oh if you have any conflicts you need sorted i.e. pesky neighbour. Blackwater are available, they can manage a coup on your behalf or even security on the door at a bar mitzvah.
A very handy number to have in your phone, well I think anyways.

 

[Tas]

Someone can be living with a chronic illness for years, and they may have a reasonable expectation of living for many more. And then they catch COVID, and they're done.

To downplay their death, effectively saying they shouldn't really count because something was going to get them eventually, is firstly heartless, and secondly, IMO, a deliberate attempt to make the virus sound less serious.

If someone was alive last week, then they caught COVID, and then they died, then I think it is reasonable to attribute that death to COVID. The whole "with/from" COVID thing has never sat well with me.

My dad is ancient and has a list of health issues longer the dead sea scrolls, including asbestos poisoning in his lungs from helping to build the government infrastructure in Melbourne for many decades. Every time i take him to the hospital over the last few years I get "this could be it" speech. It doesn't stop me trying to do everything for him to live as long as he can, he doesn't have a death wish but he doesn't exactly want to live in a bubble either for his remaining time, he wants to live the rest of his life so it is all about managing risks, taking as many precautions.

He could kick the bucket tomorrow, he could live for years longer, if covid kills him next month when he could have lived for a couple of years, that is a couple of years his grandchildren do not have them in their life whilst they are still young. It is still a loss and it shouldn't be diminished just because he is old and frail. Everyone who dies to this will impact a lot of people and we shouldn't lose our empathy with people, it is more than statistics.

I do understand the underlying logic though, we had 294k births in 2020, we had 169k deaths, in the cycle of life those born today will eventually die of something as well, we aren't going to live forever. Even if covid goes away something is going to push my dad over the edge, he was nearly KOed by a flu (despite having a super vaccination dose) pre-pandemic and before covid people made no real attempt to mitigate the spread of the flu. In some kind of morbid twist of fate, covid has probably helped to extend my dad's life because things we do to reduce the spread of covid are effective on other viruses we made zero effort to stop the spread of pre-covid and things my dad was often exposed to, much more than covid.

I think it has adjusted our attitudes of being sick and what impact it has on other people. Hopefully it is something we are mindful after the pandemic is over. It doesn't mean we need to lockdown for colds and flus but I think we should maintain the elevated hygiene standards and push for people to stay home when sick and for us as a society to make it realistically affordable for people to miss some work.

 

[Gasometer]

Yes uncle!

We need 500 posts to click the Grumpy Old Thread to version 2 if you are up to some whinging?

 

[Gasometer]

My dad is ancient and has a list of health issues longer the dead sea scrolls, including asbestos poisoning in his lungs from helping to build the government infrastructure in Melbourne for many decades. Every time i take him to the hospital over the last few years I get "this could be it" speech. It doesn't stop me trying to do everything for him to live as long as he can, he doesn't have a death wish but he doesn't exactly want to live in a bubble either for his remaining time, he wants to live the rest of his life so it is all about managing risks, taking as many precautions.

He could kick the bucket tomorrow, he could live for years longer, if covid kills him next month when he could have lived for a couple of years, that is a couple of years his grandchildren do not have them in their life whilst they are still young. It is still a loss and it shouldn't be diminished just because he is old and frail. Everyone who dies to this will impact a lot of people and we shouldn't lose our empathy with people, it is more than statistics.

I do understand the underlying logic though, we had 294k births in 2020, we had 169k deaths, in the cycle of life those born today will eventually die of something as well, we aren't going to live forever. Even if covid goes away something is going to push my dad over the edge, he was nearly KOed by a flu (despite having a super vaccination dose) pre-pandemic and before covid people made no real attempt to mitigate the spread of the flu. In some kind of morbid twist of fate, covid has probably helped to extend my dad's life because things we do to reduce the spread of covid are effective on other viruses we made zero effort to stop the spread of pre-covid and things my dad was often exposed to, much more than covid.

I think it has adjusted our attitudes of being sick and what impact it has on other people. Hopefully it is something we are mindful after the pandemic is over. It doesn't mean we need to lockdown for colds and flus but I think we should maintain the elevated hygiene standards and push for people to stay home when sick and for us as a society to make it realistically affordable for people to miss some work.

Absolutely

I reckon I can count every Flu back to some martyr that came in sick

 

[ferball]

Yep big business is war- Oh if you have any conflicts you need sorted i.e. pesky neighbour. Blackwater are available, they can manage a coup on your behalf or even security on the door at a bar mitzvah.
A very handy number to have in your phone, well I think anyways.


View attachment 1313520

They changed their name to Xi XE didn't they?

Seriously these things are ****ed up.

 

[ferball]

Thought this was an interesting piece explaining the big rise & fall in Omicron cases that the US, UK and South Africa had experienced
Also an interesting comparison between Omicron and Delta infection rates where Scientists now think they are pretty close to each other in terms of how many people each variant infects in a period of time.

Covid-19: Inside an Omicron wave – understanding the rise and fall

You’ve seen the vertical line in Australia, the US, the UK. It’s likely coming to a town near you. But there’s a sliver of hope in the avalanche.

www.stuff.co.nz

That's a good article (unlike so many.)

One thing that's hopeful about long term immunity is that people who survived the first SARS still had high levels of immune memory to SARS 17 years later. Which means they should still have protection against severe disease and possibly even infection or any infection may be light and not dangerous.

Hopefully the same applies with Omicron COVID.