Corona virus, Port and the AFL. Part 2.

[FishingRick04]

Yeah well I went and had a COVID test this morning if that is any help. My wife has a respitory infection of some sort and she had to get tested before she could see the doc. I went along as well and had the test. Pretty confident that neither of us has COVID but I can understand the precautions. Only took around 15 minutes the throat swab was OK but the nasal probe stings a bit. So, I guess I will be one of tomorrow's COVID stats.

Good job we are not in China as I would have been taking one up the arse for Chairman Xi Jinping.



So there you go.

my family has had a chest thing lately let us know what is going around

 

[Holden Hillbilly]

The new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that a COVID-19 variant first detected in the United Kingdom has now been found in 26 states. The variant appears to be 50% more contagious than other strains of the virus.

Another variant first identified in South Africa, that has shown some resistance to antibodies, has not been identified stateside, according to Dr. Rochelle Walensky, who spoke with other health officials Wednesday about the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Dr. Anthony Fauci said a Phase 3 Johnson & Johnson vaccine study is looking at its effectiveness against the variant found in South Africa, which will be useful if the variant ever arrives in the U.S.

 

[wannabejack]

The cream or the meme?

Luckily and gratefully the meme

 

[Moo87]

This thread is poo eckert.

 

[Duck Farmer]

Good job we are not in China as I would have been taking one up the arse for Chairman Xi Jinping.

If you needed another nail in the coffin of the Shanghai game, the Phil Hoffman Travel information night on anal swabs would probably be it.

 

[Holden Hillbilly]

South Africa was already one of the countries worst hit by the coronavirus, but in the six weeks since a new, more transmissible variant was first publicly announced here, an enormous spike of new cases and deaths has far surpassed previous waves of the pandemic.

The variant is thought to have emerged in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province but has now been found in at least 32 countries, sparking fears its unmitigated spread to new parts of the world could usher in new waves of contagion just as the long slog of global vaccine rollout gets underway.
The variant identified in South Africa is not yet proved to be more lethal than others, including similarly highly transmissible variants recently detected in Britain and Brazil, but mutations that make it around 50 percent easier to catch have allowed it to stage a takeover of what was already out-of-control community transmission in South Africa.

“Of the cases we’ve [DNA-]sequenced in South Africa, more than 90 percent are the new variant,” said Richard Lessells, a lead researcher at the KwaZulu-Natal Research and Innovation Sequencing Platform, or KRISP, which has played a pathbreaking role in identifying coronavirus variants in South Africa and elsewhere. “It’s amazing and terrifying how quickly it came to dominate, and it does feel like we’re in the beginning stages of watching this variant, and the other new ones, become more dominant around the world.”

 

[JimmyBC]

My problem with people attacking Rick over 'misinformation' is they are same posters that would have you believe a few extreme right dumbass Romper Stomper fans are gonna bring a reign of terror over the nation.

 

[Eddie Dingle]

My problem with people attacking Rick over 'misinformation' is they are same posters that would have you believe a few extreme right dumbass Romper Stomper fans are gonna bring a reign of terror over the nation.

That’s not your only problem surely?

 

[Schulzenfest]

My problem with people attacking Rick over 'misinformation' is they are same posters that would have you believe a few extreme right dumbass Romper Stomper fans are gonna bring a reign of terror over the nation.

Did you see what happened in the US a few weeks ago?

That said, I don't think Australia is nutty enough to get anywhere near that level. Not yet anyway. Hopefully never. We do have the advantage that our political system is set up to ensure a nutter like Trump never ends up sniffing party leadership, let alone the PM role.

 

[JimmyBC]

That’s not your only problem surely?

Many problems I'm human, drinking helps.

 

[raptalia]

I think Australia may have backed the wrong horse. On the other hand the Germans would loose no time putting down something developed in the UK.

Germany questions efficacy of AstraZeneca vaccine in the elderly

Germany's vaccine committee tells the nation's health ministry the AstraZeneca vaccine should not be given to the elderly due to "insufficient data", a claim that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has since contested.

www.abc.net.au

 

[backtozero]

My problem with people attacking Rick over 'misinformation' is they are same posters that would have you believe a few extreme right dumbass Romper Stomper fans are gonna bring a reign of terror over the nation.

I find the notion that his posts are "dangerous" to be really funny. Like someone is going to read a FishingRick post on bigfooty and then the pandemic ramps up and people start dying because apparently grown adults can't think for themselves.

 

[Steve Dore]

I think Australia may have backed the wrong horse. On the other hand the Germans would loose no time putting down something developed in the UK.

Germany questions efficacy of AstraZeneca vaccine in the elderly

Germany's vaccine committee tells the nation's health ministry the AstraZeneca vaccine should not be given to the elderly due to "insufficient data", a claim that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has since contested.

www.abc.net.au

Australia has backed four horses.

Australia’s vaccine agreements

The Australian Government has invested over $8 billion in the national COVID-19 vaccine rollout. Learn more about our vaccine agreements.

www.health.gov.au

The AstraZenaca vaccine can be manufactured here and does not require the super low storage temperatures of the Pfizer vaccine so will probably be the one most widely distributed. If the Germans are correct then the elderly here are likely to get a different vaccine.

 

[JimmyBC]

I find the notion that his posts are "dangerous" to be really funny. Like someone is going to read a FishingRick post on bigfooty and then the pandemic ramps up and people start dying because apparently grown adults can't think for themselves.

It's all a bit let's sleep with the lights on.

 

[Tredz]

I for one will not believe anything that has not been authorized as factual by the Ministry for Truthfullness ... Facebook, Google and Twitter.

 

[Del80659]

will Beyer be involved in the development? i enjoy their drugs

 

[OneGreatClub]

South Africa was already one of the countries worst hit by the coronavirus, but in the six weeks since a new, more transmissible variant was first publicly announced here, an enormous spike of new cases and deaths has far surpassed previous waves of the pandemic.

The variant is thought to have emerged in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province but has now been found in at least 32 countries, sparking fears its unmitigated spread to new parts of the world could usher in new waves of contagion just as the long slog of global vaccine rollout gets underway.
The variant identified in South Africa is not yet proved to be more lethal than others, including similarly highly transmissible variants recently detected in Britain and Brazil, but mutations that make it around 50 percent easier to catch have allowed it to stage a takeover of what was already out-of-control community transmission in South Africa.

“Of the cases we’ve [DNA-]sequenced in South Africa, more than 90 percent are the new variant,” said Richard Lessells, a lead researcher at the KwaZulu-Natal Research and Innovation Sequencing Platform, or KRISP, which has played a pathbreaking role in identifying coronavirus variants in South Africa and elsewhere. “It’s amazing and terrifying how quickly it came to dominate, and it does feel like we’re in the beginning stages of watching this variant, and the other new ones, become more dominant around the world.”

That’s what happens when a virus runs rampant, unchecked, more and more new variants.

 

[OneGreatClub]

Did you see what happened in the US a few weeks ago?

That said, I don't think Australia is nutty enough to get anywhere near that level. Not yet anyway. Hopefully never. We do have the advantage that our political system is set up to ensure a nutter like Trump never ends up sniffing party leadership, let alone the PM role.

Geez that guy still isn’t going away. Never thought I’d live to see the day a party like the GOP became so reckless and immune to the law, common decency or science. Some real evil nutters there. Greene for example.

 

[Schulzenfest]

Geez that guy still isn’t going away. Never thought I’d live to see the day a party like the GOP became so reckless and immune to the law, common decency or science. Some real evil nutters there. Greene for example.

Greene and Boebert are legit certifiable Qanon nutters. In a sane country people like them would be reduced to yelling their views on a street corner at passers-by, not elected officials.

 

[raptalia]

Australia has backed four horses.

Australia’s vaccine agreements

The Australian Government has invested over $8 billion in the national COVID-19 vaccine rollout. Learn more about our vaccine agreements.

www.health.gov.au

The AstraZenaca vaccine can be manufactured here and does not require the super low storage temperatures of the Pfizer vaccine so will probably be the one most widely distributed. If the Germans are correct then the elderly here are likely to get a different vaccine.

If the EU cannot get enough of the Pfitzer vaccine which is manufactured in Belgium how is Australia going to get the quantities ordered? The AstraZeneca vaccine is already being manufactured by CSL in Melbourne so that is likely to be the one we get. Germany has announced that it will stop giving the AstraZeneca jab to people over 65.

The problem is the over 65 cohort will be deemed the most at risk so they will need a vaccine first. If Pfitzer isn't available and Moderna is being gobbled up in the US and NovaVax is still being tested it only leaves AstraZeneca if the Government wants a late February roll out.

I do not think there is any doubt that most Australians will get the AstraZeneca jab. Some questions remain about it's efficacy and it has not yet been approved for use in Australia. You have to wonder what effect the latest from Germany will have on that approval.

Most people in Australia likely to get AstraZeneca COVID vaccine rather than Pfizer shot

While the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine will likely be the first to get approval in Australia, most of us will end up receiving the Oxford-AstraZeneca shot, Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly says.

www.abc.net.au

In terms of Pfitzer supply this is a rather ominous statement from Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt,
'Pfizer anticipated continuous supply but would provide global production guidance in mid-February for March and beyond on a weekly basis.'

The best solution might be to give the available stocks of the Pfitzer vaccine to the over 65s and use the AstraZeneca vaccine on the rest of the population. As ypou post a lot may depend on further information from Germany.

 

[Portology]

Greene and Boebert are legit certifiable Qanon nutters. In a sane country people like them would be reduced to yelling their views on a street corner at passers-by, not elected officials.

In a sane country, Greene would have been locked up long ago for repeated incitements to violence and murder against multiple individuals.

In a yet-to-be-produced movie, Boebert would reach for her concealed carry while deciding between shooting Greene to prevent her killing a Democrat that was about to repeal the 2nd Amendment, or shooting said Democrat herself. Screen fades to black, then two gunshots are heard.

 

[Portology]

Did you see what happened in the US a few weeks ago?

That said, I don't think Australia is nutty enough to get anywhere near that level. Not yet anyway. Hopefully never. We do have the advantage that our political system is set up to ensure a nutter like Trump never ends up sniffing party leadership, let alone the PM role.

Yes, while our political system is healthy enough to keep rejecting... viruses like Hanson and Kelly.

Howard's co-opting of Hanson back in the day, and now ScoMo's "silent tolerance" of Kelly... reckless and despicably opportunistic. Attempts to see if the system could be genetically modified in their favour by using virulent pathogens. What could possibly go wrong?

First two Australian cases of Proud Boys detected outside hotel quarantine. Well there's a start.

 

[Portology]

That’s what happens when a virus runs rampant, unchecked, more and more new variants.

Yeah, aside from the general prolonged death and devastation... letting the thing mutate until it becomes endemic can go one of two ways. Much more typical than the Hollywood doomsday virus scenario is that pathogens get milder because evolving to avoid killing your hosts quickly is the more reasonable survival strategy, and the existence of Hollywood doomsday virus scenario movies is sufficient evidence for that Course we only need the genetic dice-letters to roll the wrong way once... hopefully our little friend Ebola is too heavy and/or fragile to ever become airborne.

 

[chiwigi]

My problem with people attacking Rick over 'misinformation' is they are same posters that would have you believe a few extreme right dumbass Romper Stomper fans are gonna bring a reign of terror over the nation.

Your ability to conflate issues then reduce to a pointless nonsense is actually a pretty special skill.
Useless, but special.

 

[Andre]

Did you see what happened in the US a few weeks ago?

That said, I don't think Australia is nutty enough to get anywhere near that level. Not yet anyway. Hopefully never. We do have the advantage that our political system is set up to ensure a nutter like Trump never ends up sniffing party leadership, let alone the PM role.

The only time I remember any damage down to Parliament is some Unionists smashing the doors protesting some IR changes. As long as voting is compulsory (at least turning up), then the need to capture the middle ground (Centre-Left through Centre-Right), ensures major parties can have a few nut jobs at the Fringes, but even if you get a supposed 'extremist', as Abbott was painted as, they wouldn't touch Abortion or relax Gun Laws.

Multi-member electorates is sometimes put forward as something to break the strangle hold of the ALP/Coalition, but from overseas that leads to it being easier to get extremists (Left and Right) elected. Nearly all the non-major nut jobs in Australia are in upper houses where they can bypass appealing to the (mostly) rationale Centrist voters.