Posts by Gerald Chavez7

Hold on a second—of course Omicron is probably spreading through parts of Africa too, but they aren't even running tests over there, let alone specifically screening for Omicron.

If you really have to talk about the series, just take it to the chat—I've moved the posts over here.

I mean, South Africa probably sees something like 50 flights a day heading out toward the USA, Europe, the Middle East, or Asia... that’s easily 15,000 people traveling daily.

Why would my hair stand on end? There isn't even a debate about whether the Delta variant can spread among the vaccinated—it clearly can. I just finished "getting over" a case of that exact strain myself. 😁

P. S. This whole thing already did several laps around Twitter over the weekend...

Charles Ramos7 said:What supply chains? Passenger travel is blocked, not freight.

In reality, the biggest hit will be taken by the South African diaspora looking to head home for Christmas—plus whatever tourists actually decided to travel. By the way, those Asian restrictions were already pretty intense long before Omicron showed up (that’s how they caught that one case in Hong Kong; the guy was already in quarantine despite being vaccinated).

rowdyranger44 said:Oh, come on, how much longer are we supposed to stay locked down?! Are you actually aware that taking such drastic measures does far more damage to the economy than any defense against this virus ever could? And you're practicing this kind of "strictness" on Africa, where these types of moves literally plunge entire populations into poverty overnight?!

What lockdown? 🤷 I don't believe we should be doing anything differently within the country (here in the Global North) just because Omicron showed up...

It’s definitely important, but the only thing we can say with any real certainty is that it’s more contagious—likely because it manages to bypass existing immunity.

Restricting travel from Africa and ramping up active track&trace efforts makes sense as a short-term move.

Even if this just triggers a temporary surge, the booster rollout will reach several dozen million more people, which might buy us some time until spring or the next seasonal update.

Kevin Hughes2 said:The most prolific anti-vaxxers out there—those who have built an entire movement centered on undermining scientific consensus and successfully fueling it every single day through mainstream media, certain segments of the scientific community, and various government task forces globally—are busy recruiting more skeptics and sowing seeds of doubt regarding professional expertise and science itself.

Consider this snapshot of how the media operates in the States; two headlines from the exact same day, published at the exact same time:

A prominent scientist issues a dire warning: ‘Omicron is an eight times more lethal strain. Here is why.'

Omicron is highly contagious, but not deadly: ‘Don't panic, symptoms are very mild.'

So, you decide. You can pick from window number one or window number two; choose whichever one resonates more with your current state of mind.

This strain is becoming quite a headache for the media—regardless of which "side" they’re trying to root for.

Given the sheer volume of mutations—which look pretty similar to everything we've seen so far—it’s the way they're all bundled together that makes this a real headache. Theoretically speaking, it’s clearly going to be problematic.

We’re going to need to sit tight for a few weeks to see what the actual impact looks like—which basically means the only thing we truly know is that we don't know anything yet. In the meantime, though, I wonder what kind of frenzy the media will whip up? It usually follows the same old pattern: they grab any tiny scrap of information, run with it, and turn it into some sensationalized headline before anyone can even process the facts.

Benjamin Brooks2 said:Nobody's attacking anyone here. Why act like this? You clearly don't know the quote.

There’s an explanation, but this moderator can't even handle a quote.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32936832/

The virus enters the cell via the ACE2 receptor.

It was shown that the human Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is the receptor of recent coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, and variation in this gene may affect the susceptibility of a population. Therefore, we have analysed the sequence data of ACE2 among 393 samples worldwide, focusing on South Asia.

Z_K Clear enough now? Just use your head. It’s infuriating when people pretend to be stupid.

So, we're starting with that article from India.
Submitted: April 27, 2020; Accepted: August 12, 2020; Published: September 16, 2020

It stands to reason, then, that within... South AsiansIt looks like the way certain hosts react to SARS-CoV-2 actually leans much closer to the patterns seen in East or Southeast Asians rather than what we see in Europeans or Americans.

we're talking about the Indian subcontinent here.

And then, following all that, India ends up hitting the highest mortality rate in the world—in absolute numbers, at least. It's because they're already immune...

Can you actually read an article and process it without spiraling straight into some conspiracy theory? It must be absolutely exhausting just trying to follow the news these days...

Whether Omicron hits harder than Alpha, Delta, or that first strain from Wuhan—honestly, it’s almost beside the point. What we’re actually waiting on is the data regarding how effectively it bypasses existing immunity, whether you got your shots or already fought it off.

If it turns out to be successful at dodging those defenses, it means the potential pool of susceptible people just got a whole lot larger...

It would be pretty interesting to see just how much younger the users are compared to the age of the Reddit 😁thread itself
.

A case was spotted in the Czech Republic

...also traveling from Egypt. I have this nagging feeling the "source" is actually located somewhere else in Africa—not in Yari or Botswana.

Or, honestly, it’s pretty logical—we're talking about people with roots in Africa...

https://www.who.int/news/item/26-11-...ant-of-concern

So, apparently this Variant is going to be called Omicron...

Linda Harris59 said:Now, this is certainly an interesting development. But the real question remains: has this actually been verified?

Are we really looking at a situation where 70% of the population has already built up natural immunity from prior infections, yet this new Variant is still managing to spread so aggressively?

Well, seeing as 0.4% of the population has died, I'd say that's a pretty solid indicator. Let me see if I can dig up the link where I read this...

Linda Lee4 said:States are rolling out new restrictions because hospitalization rates are spiking despite high vaccination numbers, yet you're sitting there hoping that a vaccine designed for the Alpha strain can somehow pull its weight against Delta, let alone this new variant? That is some top-tier optimism right there.🤣

Just keep hoping; I have zero doubts that my recently acquired natural immunity will handle this strain just fine, assuming it even manages to spread rapidly enough to matter...

It’s spreading pretty fast in Yosemite (according to preliminary reports, though we might see in a few days if it’s just a fluke) among a very experienced population. At least 70% of people in Yosemite have already dealt with previous variants, so we aren't exactly looking at an "immunologically naive" or "green" population here.

Samuel Turner2 said:It’s the exact same story whether you've been vaccinated or you already caught the bug.
We're all stuck in the same damn mess...

The panic seems pretty intense right now—and maybe it's justified—but we don't have the full picture yet. We'll see how things shake out in the coming days. There's no need to overreact to everything, except for the obvious stuff—like people flying in from Africa...

Antibody therapy might become an option (which means it wouldn't really help Trump 😁)

From Egypt, via a layover in Turkey. Absolutely zero contact with any of those South African nations.