SARS CoV-2 coronavirus / Covid-19 (No tin foil hat silliness please)

[golden_blunder]

Think it’s easy to forget the mental trauma thousands of NHS staff are going through.

Staggering. It’s unfair. They are all heroes, every single one of them.

 

[arnie_ni]

Was it @starkie1?

Assuming because the tag didn't work, his account is deleted?

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I have a test booked in tonight because I've got a few symptoms (cough, taste).

Kinda feels just like a cold really but I made the mistake of telling my mum on the phone and she's forced me to get tested.

I was surprised how easy it was to book a test and also how many open slots there were. I could literally have picked any time between now and 7pm.

If I do have it, its from Tesco at the weekend as I've not left the flat other than a daily walk outside (on my own).

Even if you don’t have it you’ve caught something from Tesco at the weekend. Which is quite a scary thought considering covid seems to be more contagious than your run of the mill colds and flu.

 

[Berbaclass]

Assuming because the tag didn't work, his account is deleted?

No you missed the underscore before the 1

Hasn’t been active on the forum for the better part of a year though.

 

[Solius]

if i was infected by this virus i would simply fight it off using my immune system

Eboue accidentally called the right-wing response to this.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Eboue accidentally called the right-wing response to this.

Ha! All that’s missing is a reference to sunshine and vitamins.

 

[gormless]

That bloke going out for a nice Sunday roast with like-minded people.

That’s a disservice to people on page 1. Storkie’s infamous comment was around March when we all knew what it was

 

[11101]

I genuinely hate Hancock.

There is little wonder the population won't listen to the government when they see weasels like this on TV.

 

[Solius]

Does anyone have any good mask recommendations?

We got some from a company called Maskie last year and they're decent but they've shrunk a bit in the wash. I prefer the black ones similar to this kind of style.

 

[Berbaclass]

Does anyone have any good mask recommendations?

We got some from a company called Maskie last year and they're decent but they've shrunk a bit in the wash. I prefer the black ones similar to this kind of style.

I got a pack of 3 from Adidas for £15 and they’ve been pretty good IMO. Good material and not too bad to wear at length.

 

[F-Red]

Does anyone have any good mask recommendations?

We got some from a company called Maskie last year and they're decent but they've shrunk a bit in the wash. I prefer the black ones similar to this kind of style.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Face-Mask-Unisex-Adjustable-Replaceable/dp/B089T9CS8K/

 

[Solius]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Face-Mask-Unisex-Adjustable-Replaceable/dp/B089T9CS8K/

One of my favourite things at the moment is stock photos with masks photoshopped on because they can't take new ones

 

[Solius]

Do you only get one use out a filter? Puts me off buying ones with those.

 

[F-Red]

Do you only get one use out a filter? Puts me off buying ones with those.

I've used probably about a filter a week at the moment, depends on usage really.

 

[VP89]

In a scenario where one gets their first dose of a Pfizer vaccine only 5 days ago, and then tests positive for covid, is there no response the vaccine can take which can deter severe symptoms?

 

[Pogue Mahone]

In a scenario where one gets their first dose of a Pfizer vaccine only 5 days ago, and then tests positive for covid, is there no response the vaccine can take which can deter severe symptoms?

Not really. All a vaccine does is kick your immune system into gear to get it ready to fight off an infection. If you already have virus in your body the immune response will have already been triggered so a vaccine provides no additional benefit.

 

[VP89]

Not really. All a vaccine does is kick your immune system into gear to get it ready to fight off an infection. If you already have virus in your body the immune response will have already been triggered so a vaccine provides no additional benefit.

Okay thanks, it's a tough one because obviously I'm not sure when they would have caught the virus in their body. I would have thought 3 days or so ago if they feel symptoms now. It will be a week tomorrow when they have had their first dose. Probably too early, thanks for letting me know. Hopefully it stays mild.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Okay thanks, it's a tough one because obviously I'm not sure when they would have caught the virus in their body. I would have thought 3 days or so ago if they feel symptoms now. It will be a week tomorrow when they have had their first dose. Probably too early, thanks for letting me know. Hopefully it stays mild.

Median incubation period is 5 to 7 days so it’s actually possible they picked up the virus while they were getting vaccinated!

Mind you, I’m not sure how accurate testing is so soon after being vaccinated. I wonder if it’s possible for the spike protein created as a result of the vaccine to cause a false positive? Should check with their doctor.

EDIT: Never mind. Just googled. Doesn’t look like the vaccine can cause a false positive pcr.

 

[jojojo]

EDIT: Never mind. Just googled. Doesn’t look like the vaccine can cause a false positive pcr.

I'm now curious as to whether it can trick some of the lateral flow type quick tests. I'm not sure what exactly they're looking for.

 

[VP89]

Median incubation period is 5 to 7 days so it’s actually possible they picked up the virus while they were getting vaccinated!

Mind you, I’m not sure how accurate testing is so soon after being vaccinated. I wonder if it’s possible for the spike protein created as a result of the vaccine to cause a false positive? Should check with their doctor.

EDIT: Never mind. Just googled. Doesn’t look like the vaccine can cause a false positive pcr.

They tested positive twice on the home kit (the one where you swab and drop on the reader before reading). I'm assuming that's lateral flow?

PCR test was done today so waiting on the result. Symptoms are flu like for the moment and I'm monitoring it carefully.

You're right it might be while vaccination! But both are essential workers so it could be after too. Thanks for the explanation!

 

[Berbaclass]

 

[Tibs]

47k new cases
1564 deaths - highest single day deaths ever

R rate is between 1.0 and 1.4

from Sky News

Anyone getting a little annoyed by Mid-Feb date being used a lot. When we get closer to it, a lot of people will think restrictions are about to release and the Government will be inviting more pressure onto them to relax some rules imo.

 

[Balljy]

47k new cases
1564 deaths - highest single day deaths ever

R rate is between 1.0 and 1.4

from Sky News

Anyone getting a little annoyed by Mid-Feb date being used a lot. When we get closer to it, a lot of people will think restrictions are about to release and the Government will be inviting more pressure onto them to relax some rules imo.

I'm a bit confused how the R rate has been constantly above 1 for the last few weeks yet new cases show the first signs of falling due (I'm hoping) to the newest lockdown procedures. Surely a rate higher than 1 would signify no reduction in cases whatsoever theoretically?

 

[prateik]

Wait. there is a new variant? What happened to the SA variant?

 

[jderbyshire]

Does anyone else think it's still busy on the roads, despite the stay at home advice?

 

[dwd]

Does anyone else think it's still busy on the roads, despite the stay at home advice?

No idea, haven't been on them.

 

[Berbaclass]

Wait. there is a new variant? What happened to the SA variant?

Apparently. It’s news to me also.

 

[EvilChuck]

47k new cases
1564 deaths - highest single day deaths ever

R rate is between 1.0 and 1.4

from Sky News

Anyone getting a little annoyed by Mid-Feb date being used a lot. When we get closer to it, a lot of people will think restrictions are about to release and the Government will be inviting more pressure onto them to relax some rules imo.

Classic case of this Government over promising and under delivering, and then wondering why people arent paying much attention to their restrictions. They dig their own holes at every step, which then loses them credibility when they say something that actually is important.

 

[TheGame]

No idea, haven't been on them.

Yes, much more than first lockdown.

 

[Sparky_Hughes]

Does anyone else think it's still busy on the roads, despite the stay at home advice?

Yep, there is a mcdonalds drive through next door to me, and every single evening about 5ish the main road is blocked with cars trying to get in there.

 

[Brwned]

Wait. there is a new variant? What happened to the SA variant?

Still there, of the three it's still considered the worst as it's believed to be more infectious like the UK's, and like Brazil's it has changes to the structure that associated with vaccination issues. So far the lab experiments seem to suggest that the current vaccines work fine even against those strains, so they're mostly theoretical concerns, while PHE are downgrading their estimates for the increased infectiousness of this new strain yet again, this time to 0.3 - 0.5. No catastrophes, just concerns to monitor and understand. We're actually fortunate to have discovered these three meaningful mutations in such a short period of time. You'd expect there to be mutations in e.g. the US that people just haven't noticed yet, because they're doing so much less genetic testing and their public health resources are occupied with other things.

That is why, when the World Health Organization working group saw the first data on the variant circulating in South Africa on Dec. 4, everyone took notice.

“Your next question immediately is: Can the vaccines still protect us if we get viruses with these mutations?” said Dr. Koopmans, who was in the meeting.

For now, the answer seems to be yes, said Jesse Bloom, an evolutionary biologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Dr. Koopmans agrees.

The variants that have emerged in South Africa and Brazil are a particular threat to immunization efforts, because both contain a mutation associated with a drop in the efficacy of vaccines. In one experiment, designed to identify the worst-case scenario, Dr. Bloom’s team analyzed 4,000 mutations, looking for those that would render vaccines useless. The mutation present in the variants from both Brazil and South Africa proved to have the biggest impact.

Still, every sample of serum in the study neutralized the virus, regardless of its mutations, Dr. Bloom said, adding that it would take a few more years before the vaccines need to be tweaked.

“There should be plenty of time where we can be prospective, identify these mutations, and probably update the vaccines in time.”
...
Britain has one of the most aggressive surveillance regimens, analyzing up to 10 percent of samples that test positive for the virus. But few countries have such robust systems in place. The United States sequences less than 1 percent of its positive samples. And others cannot hope to afford the equipment or build such networks in time for this pandemic.

In Brazil, labs that had redirected their attention from Zika to the coronavirus had discovered a worrisome mutation there as early as this spring. But little is known about the variants circulating in the country, or how quickly they are spreading.

“We just don’t know because no one is either sequencing or sharing the data,” said Dr. Nuno Faria at Imperial College and Oxford University, who coordinates genomic sequencing projects with colleagues in Brazil. “Genomic surveillance is expensive.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/09/world/europe/coronavirus-mutations.html?action=click&module=Top Stories&pgtype=Homepage

The Japanese health ministry are downplaying the variant at the moment but it is a troubling coincidence that they've detected this variant at the same time they see another spike in cases.

A new coronavirus variant has been detected in four travelers from Brazil's Amazonas state, Japan's Health Ministry said on Sunday, in the latest instance the pandemic virus is evolving.

A ministry official said studies were underway into the efficacy of vaccines against the new variant, which differs from highly-infectious variants first found in Britain and South Africa that have driven a surge in cases.

"At the moment, there is no proof showing the new variant found in those from Brazil is high in infectiousness," Takaji Wakita, head of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, told a health ministry briefing.

Of the four travelers who arrived at Tokyo's Haneda airport on Jan. 2, a man in his forties had a problem breathing, a woman in her thirties had a headache and sore throat and a man in his teens had a fever, while a woman in her teens showed no symptoms, the health ministry said.

After seeing a steep rise in coronavirus cases, Japan declared a state of emergency for Tokyo and three prefectures neighboring the capital on Thursday.

Nationwide cases have totaled about 289,000, with 4,061 deaths, public broadcaster NHK said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/...nt-found-travelers-brazil-japan-says-n1253655

 

[F-Red]

Does anyone else think it's still busy on the roads, despite the stay at home advice?

Yes, much more than first lockdown.

No surprises though, a lot more businesses were closed in the first lockdown than there is now.

 

[11101]

Wait. there is a new variant? What happened to the SA variant?

There are thousands. Viruses mutate all the time, and the 'best' ones take over. There are a handful that cause concern, the UK, SA and now this Brazilian one being the current focuses. There will certainly be others still to come but it would take something unusual for one to defeat the vaccine.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

There are thousands. Viruses mutate all the time, and the 'best' ones take over. There are a handful that cause concern, the UK, SA and now this Brazilian one being the current focuses. There will certainly be others still to come but it would take something unusual for one to defeat the vaccine.

You have to wonder if all these new variants are being discovered now because everyone is doing a better job of screening for new variants after the UK strain scared the shit out of them?

 

[Penna]

Italy had 15,774 new cases today, 507 new deaths. We have a new emergency decree being announced in the next day or two, and it looks like take-away food will have to stop at 6pm, rather than 10pm. All bars and restaurants have to close at 6pm at present, even in the lowest-risk regions, but this will tighten things even more.

We still have the curfew from 10pm to 5am, which has been in place for ages now.

Some good news is that it looks like some regions will be designated "white zones", if the Rt number is under 1 and there are fewer than 50 cases per 100,000 people. In white zones, the intention will be to slowly attempt to return to normal.

Everyone has to stay within their own region, unless they have to work or have some other pressing reason to cross to another region (of course, we have a form we have to complete). The state of emergency will stay in place until the end of April, which gives the Government the power to make rapid changes to the rules.

 

[Berbasbullet]

You have to wonder if all these new variants are being discovered now because everyone is doing a better job of screening for new variants after the UK strain scared the shit out of them?

Another brexit benefit!

 

[arnie_ni]

No you missed the underscore before the 1

Hasn’t been active on the forum for the better part of a year though.

Since his affluent and like minded sesh in the pub then

 

[Ecstatic]

Italy had 15,774 new cases today, 507 new deaths. We have a new emergency decree being announced in the next day or two, and it looks like take-away food will have to stop at 6pm, rather than 10pm. All bars and restaurants have to close at 6pm at present, even in the lowest-risk regions, but this will tighten things even more.

We still have the curfew from 10pm to 5am, which has been in place for ages now.

Some good news is that it looks like some regions will be designated "white zones", if the Rt number is under 1 and there are fewer than 50 cases per 100,000 people. In white zones, the intention will be to slowly attempt to return to normal.

Everyone has to stay within their own region, unless they have to work or have some other pressing reason to cross to another region (of course, we have a form we have to complete). The state of emergency will stay in place until the end of April, which gives the Government the power to make rapid changes to the rules.

France
23,852 new cases
229 new deaths today
but tougher restrictions coming with curfew starting 6m instead 8pm... Bad idea

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Italy had 15,774 new cases today, 507 new deaths. We have a new emergency decree being announced in the next day or two, and it looks like take-away food will have to stop at 6pm, rather than 10pm. All bars and restaurants have to close at 6pm at present, even in the lowest-risk regions, but this will tighten things even more.

We still have the curfew from 10pm to 5am, which has been in place for ages now.

Some good news is that it looks like some regions will be designated "white zones", if the Rt number is under 1 and there are fewer than 50 cases per 100,000 people. In white zones, the intention will be to slowly attempt to return to normal.

Everyone has to stay within their own region, unless they have to work or have some other pressing reason to cross to another region (of course, we have a form we have to complete). The state of emergency will stay in place until the end of April, which gives the Government the power to make rapid changes to the rules.

France
23,852 new cases
229 new deaths today
but tougher restrictions coming with curfew starting 6m instead 8pm... Bad idea

Why are they increasing restrictions in Italy/France? Are the numbers not going in the right direction?

 

[Ecstatic]

Why are they increasing restrictions in Italy/France? Are the numbers not going in the right direction?

For France

2 mars: 2 March
19 mars: 19 March
11 janvier: 11 January

Recenses en 1 semaine: reported in 1 week
Tendance sur deux semaines: trends over 2 weeks

Cas confirmes: confirmed cases
Nouvelles hospitalisations: new hospitalised people
Admissions en reanimation: people - patients admitted to the resuscitation unit,
Deces a l hopital - deaths in hospital (versus deaths of very old people in regulated homes for dependent seniors)