Corona Thread |OT| Nu variant, who dis?

[Kurt Russell]

UK government brilliant idea #8405

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59878823

Covid: PCR not needed after positive lateral flow under new plans

Lateral flows are at an acceptable level of accuracy and there is an Omiron driven shortage of PCR tests.

The actual guidance is symptomless Covid lateral positives do not need PCR tests - which actually means that these people would be self-isolating sooner, rather than having to wait for a PCR test to be delivered and then run through a lab.

Why do you think this is a problem?

[Uncle]

My favorite airport experience was the fridge full of horse meat and mare milk at the Astana International departure gates (when it was still called that). Not sure who exactly would want to load a couple of kilos of refrigerated meat and/or milk into their hand luggage for their hour plane ride plus onward travel. Ivermectin would probably be a good offer alongside the meat though.

I get anxiety attacks on flights unless I have my thermos of warm mare milk 

[Raist]

UK government brilliant idea #8405

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59878823

Covid: PCR not needed after positive lateral flow under new plans

Lateral flows are at an acceptable level of accuracy and there is an Omiron driven shortage of PCR tests.

The actual guidance is symptomless Covid lateral positives do not need PCR tests - which actually means that these people would be self-isolating sooner, rather than having to wait for a PCR test to be delivered and then run through a lab.

Why do you think this is a problem?

LFTs are a lot more prone to false positives than PCR, especially when people don't pay attention to not drinking or eating anything for a while before taking the test.

Conversely, they're nowhere near as sensitive as a PCR test, thus a lot more likely to be "woops, too late" once you test positive.

Since this is DIY, it's a lot more likely that people won't bother reporting it - while it's for sure done for PCR by testing centres.

It won't tell you what variant you have.



I mean, while the stress on testing capacity is an issue, this is in line with the "no fucks given" line Boris and his clique have now openly decided to follow, and sounds suspiciously like "well those numbers are making us look real bad, let's fix that".
Here's another example:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59876063

[Himu]

https://twitter.com/kaitlancollins/status/1478491033881227278.

[Himu]

https://www.newsweek.com/french-president-emmanuel-macron-says-someone-who-refuses-covid-vaccine-not-citizen-1665669

Lmao COVID vaccine is a religion to these people

"We are going to treat you like shit. Get that vax, Jack."

Great way to win others to your side. I wonder how LePen will do next election.  That is, if voting doesn't require proof of vaccination.



Oops, I made a boo boooooo, an ID LAW. At the polls. Dear me.

[Madrun Badrun]

https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/rwt70k/caught_this_woman_sitting_in_front_of_me_on_a/

[Himu]

I think that person is worse than her. Reading another person's texts. Who does that, first off? They're both not very nice.

I'm convinced I had COVID the other week. I got a test and it said negative but I had a cold like symptoms for like a week to 9-10 days. Just a slight fever with some sniffles and a slight cough. Some hot water helped. Getting tested again to see if I had or have it.

[Madrun Badrun]

I think that person is worse than her.

Of course you think that.  If you don't mind staying at least 6 posts away from mine, that would be great.  I don't want to catch your lunacy.   

[jorma]

I think that person is worse than her. Reading another person's texts. Who does that, first off? They're both not very nice.

FACTS

[Himu]

I think that person is worse than her.

Of course you think that.  If you don't mind staying at least 6 posts away from mine, that would be great.  I don't want to catch your lunacy.   

Both aren't good. One is a stalker and zooms in other people's texts which is pretty fucking bad already.

The other knows they have Covid and is traveling with it. Hopefully she's wearing a mask despite being selfish.

But isn't being selfish the core of being human? As someone that used to work in the frontline of Covid this is very common. People will order pizza while having it and you deliver or others go to work with it, knowingly. Will they be paid for their time off while having Covid? No? Then they'll work while having it and wear a mask in the mean time. It's a reality of mankind and the Reddit post you shared offers no new gems on the human condition. The fact you posted it shows it conduces shock from you but anyone with experience with people outside of the Covid bubble is already aware of this stuff. For me it curates a massive shrug. And?

The fact you support someone zooming on someone's phone reveals who the real lunatic is. I did after all, say they were both bad but that wasn't good enough for your Covid fear based navel gazing.

[Madrun Badrun]

Or you are a mentally ill man child who has had another personality crisis.  Being selfish isn't core to being a human being, it is core to your version 4.0 personality and gleefully use other's bad behavior to justify either your own bad behaviour or your new personal shithead philosophy.  Honestly, take a walk in the park until v5.0. 

Nintex and Filler were obnoxious idiots but at least they were not obnoxious antagonistic idiots.   

[Himu]

Bringing up something completely unrelated. You're pressed. All this after I said both are pretty bad and not once defended her behavior. It's only antagonistic because you're used to no one challenging you on your perspective.

In any case, it's fascinating how Covid has people actually thinking they're doing the public good by evading privacy and other other personal freedoms. At the end of the day this lady is doing something selfish in a pandemic. This poster is doing something that'd be awful whether in a pandemic or not.

Did you really expect to post a Reddit link of someone posting another person's zoomed in text messages and not get blowback?

Honestly with Omicron being so transmissible best to expect everyone has it. I'm sure this happens a lot. People are likely getting a lot of surprise diagnoses while traveling or something and rather than put it off they say fuck it and continue doing their thing.

[Madrun Badrun]

It's not about this specific instance, this was more the last straw, it's about every post you have made since coming back.  You're opening posts in the 'deconstruction' were designed to be combative and offensive.  Your posts in the politics thread and this one are also purposefully antagonistic.  Going 'all I said', ya I know what you have been saying the last two weeks and it's tiring.  You're not challenging people's perspectives or whatever noble hogwash you tell yourself.  You are not on some great journey to find your political identity.  You're just a fucking prick.       

[Himu]

Honestly thinking about it it's even more offensive as a photographer how this poster has no photography ethics. I take pictures of people in public without permission and even I have the rule of not reading nor photographing another person's texts. What's even worse is that in that thread this perspective is pushed down and downvoted. People are in favor of reading and posting others' texts in the name of safety which will results in an inundation of more privacy skirting photography. Very bad indeed.

E: ruminating on it more and reflecting of the psychology of photography I can definitely conclude that person is a POS. This isn't some Bresson decisive moment pizazz. The person taking the picture likely does this often. They zoom in 10-100x  on other people's phones to see what they're typing. In this case they caught a fish, which was Covid related, and decided to farm it online for online points in the name of outrage. They probably take a lot of unsolicited photos. Not of candid, innoceous moments but ones that evade actual privacy. This wasn't a one off moment.

[Cauliflower Of Love]

What if she was doing voice dictation and that's what cause the person taking the picture to take the picture.

It's what any good moraled journalistic photographer would do, and it could be argued it's their responsibility.

[Himu]

What if she was doing voice dictation and that's what cause the person taking the picture to take the picture.

It's what any good moraled journalistic photographer would do, and it could be argued it's their responsibility.

Mmm. No.

There's no evidence of voice to text.

[Coffee Dog]

I actually think that being even being a hypothetical pathological serial picture taker is less bad than spreading a sickness to total strangers.

[Cauliflower Of Love]

What if she was doing voice dictation and that's what cause the person taking the picture to take the picture.

It's what any good moraled journalistic photographer would do, and it could be argued it's their responsibility.

Mmm. No.

There's no evidence of voice to text.

you weren't there you can't know that.

[Himu]

I actually think that being even being a hypothetical pathological serial picture taker is less bad than spreading a sickness to total strangers.

If she's wearing a mask the likelihood of transmission is low. Meanwhile this person is a creep. They're both pretty fucked up though. Can we agree?

What if she was doing voice dictation and that's what cause the person taking the picture to take the picture.

It's what any good moraled journalistic photographer would do, and it could be argued it's their responsibility.

Mmm. No.

There's no evidence of voice to text.

you weren't there you can't know that.

What is more likely? A lady that wants to hide she has Covid on a plane communicates this:

A. Through voice to text - speaking out loudly on said plane she has Covid during an attempt to hide she has it.

B. Texting it privately.

Or

C. Mupepe

I'm going to go with C.

[Lonewulfeus]

I think that person is worse than her.

Of course you think that.  If you don't mind staying at least 6 posts away from mine, that would be great.  I don't want to catch your lunacy.   

For omicron level lunacy it’s more like 25 posts.

[Sman]

Friend got it

I had it two weeks ago. Right before Xmas. Infected my SO and kids before I realized I had symptoms. I'm not sure where I got it from. Probably from work, but can't be sure. Cases here are insane, nearly 100 times worse than in March/April 2020, but hospitalizations are declining.

I'm double vaxxed and was boosted the week prior. That didn't prevent infection though.

Whether vaccines had anything to do with it or not, the symptoms were mild all things considered. I wanted to rest and doze off the first two days then got better. There is some lingering muscle pain in the back, but I hardly notice it. Disease was still worse than whatever  side effects from the vaccine (soreness in arm and some dizziness). Glad I got it over with: I managed to make a dent in my gaming and movie backlog while in isolation.

Now that I have officially recovered, I get the coveted "immunity badge" in my Covid passport. 

[Himu]

Glad you're well, Sman! Good job unlocking the Immunity Achievement!💪🏾

[Rufus]

Whether vaccines had anything to do with it or not, the symptoms were mild all things considered.

Of course they did. That's the point.

[benjipwns]

https://twitter.com/denise_dewald/status/1479142402279542784

[Skullfuckers Anonymous]

https://mobile.twitter.com/bijanstephen/status/1478902680600911873

[Madrun Badrun]

https://www.science.org/content/article/covid-19-may-have-killed-nearly-3-million-india-far-more-official-counts-show

[Madrun Badrun]

Got boostered

[Great Rumbler]

https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1479598758786707468

[benjipwns]

There is vaccine hesitancy, but on the flip side, there is Brahmdeo Mandal.

Mr. Mandal is so excited about the healing promise of a jab that he says he has received 12 coronavirus vaccine doses — so far.

How, you may ask? Mr. Mandal, an 85-year-old retired postman from the northern Indian state of Bihar, is happy to share.

He said he received his first dose on Feb. 13 at a local clinic, and he hasn’t stopped since. He has recorded the date and location of each jab in a pocket notebook. His ninth shot, he said, was on Sept. 24 at 12:32 p.m. at a hospital in Kalashan, Madhepura District.

“I felt that it was helping my general health,” he said in a phone interview. “My backache has improved, my general weakness improved, and my appetite improved.”

“I was always looking for new vaccine camps and would go there,” Mr. Mandal said. “Nobody would recognize me.”

...

It is precisely the manual registration that would have come in handy in Mr. Mandal’s quest to keep getting shots before boosters were being offered — and then to keep on boosting every month or so, he said.

Mr. Mandal admitted that each time he registered for a new jab, he was asked whether or not he had previously received the shot. “Every time I told them a lie — that I had not,” he said.

Dr. Shahi, the district medical chief, said internet problems in Madhepura were such that in many areas vaccinations happened offline and the data was uploaded later. He said what was surprising, if Mr. Mandal’s claim turns out true, is that the portal did not detect repeat uploads when the data went online.

As for Mr. Mandal, he said he would keep looking for new opportunities. “I still want more,” he said.

Vaxmaxxing!

[benjipwns]

https://twitter.com/BallouxFrancois/status/1479632262929043462
https://twitter.com/skepticalzebra/status/1479634750814015491

[Cauliflower Of Love]

https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1479598758786707468

needs himus robitussin take on this before i comment.

[T-Short]

I got it now, as well. Hung out with a small group of friends, one of them told me she got word that she might have been exposed. She developed symptoms, so did I, I got tested on Tuesday morning and got the positive result yesterday. I only have a fairly mild cold. No fever or sore throat, just some coughing and sneezing and very faint sense of smell/taste. Going to be isolating until Monday at the earliest. Oh well

[Cauliflower Of Love]

bug chaser

[Tripon]

Is Sweden still letting it rip?

[archnemesis]

Is Sweden still letting it rip?

Our issue isn't the lack of recommendations, it's the lack of enforcement. People aren't using face masks in public transport or stores. A sizable portion of the population won't get vaccinated. We aren't testing enough, so the real spread is higher than reported.

That being said, we are not doing worse than our neighbors.

[jorma]

Is Sweden still letting it rip?

Our issue isn't the lack of recommendations, it's the lack of enforcement. People aren't using face masks in public transport or stores. A sizable portion of the population won't get vaccinated. We aren't testing enough, so the real spread is higher than reported.

That being said, we are not doing worse than our neighbors.

I think that's because the covid related mortality rates the last six months has been pretty stable at regular flu season levels. We still care about safe distance and stuff, but there's honestly no reason to go full distinguished mentally-challenged fellow when no one is dying.

[headwalk]

the biggest issues for the UK are NHS staff shortages due to isolating with mild/asymptomatic covid and huge numbers of patients coming in with mild/asymptomatic covid having to be put into separate wards, also the looming threat of an NHS vaccine mandate which could cause huge numbers to leave the service or use it as excuse to double their salary and join a private practice (this video blew up recently:

)

what isn't going up at all is the numbers on ventitlators or ICU occupancy, london was the epicentre and has now peaked having followed the exact trends of South Africa.

if we just started treating it like an endemic disease like everything else we deal with, we'd genuinely be better off.

[Cauliflower Of Love]

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/08/cyprus-reportedly-discovers-a-covid-variant-that-combines-omicron-and-delta.html

Leondios Kostrikis, professor of biological sciences at the University of Cyprus, called the strain "deltacron," because of its omicron-like genetic signatures within the delta genomes, Bloomberg said.
So far, Kostrikis and his team have found 25 cases of the virus, according to the report. It's still too early to tell whether there are more cases of the strain or what impacts it could have.

[benjipwns]

https://twitter.com/Alicia_Smith19/status/1480221931588800517
https://twitter.com/Alicia_Smith19/status/1480265464790011913
https://twitter.com/sailorrooscout/status/1479950321224986628
https://twitter.com/AdrianaHeguy/status/1480194666771398662
https://twitter.com/AdrianaHeguy/status/1480210657656152073

[Kurt Russell]

Convicts BTFO

[Rufus]

Not yet. The court found that they didn't follow proper procedure the first time. They can still cancel his visa. Now we play will-they-won't-they.

[Cauliflower Of Love]

Convicts BTFO

(Image removed from quote.)

Save the cheerleader.

[Potato]

Not yet. The court found that they didn't follow proper procedure the first time. They can still cancel his visa. Now we play will-they-won't-they.

No chance they cancel his visa. That would mean he can't return to Australia for three years. The fault here lies with Tennis Australia. Bunch of fucking old boys club morons

[chronovore]

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/10/omicron-vaccine-coming-in-march-experts-warn-it-could-be-too-late.html

Omicron-specific vaccine is coming but ‘may not matter—everybody’s going to be infected,’ says expert

[benjipwns]

https://twitter.com/missxylia/status/1480497194914369537

spoiler (click to show/hide)

https://twitter.com/euphoricbrianna/status/1480295370412363778
https://twitter.com/OhsakaRin/status/1480178179600166925

[close]

[fizzel]

the biggest issues for the UK are NHS staff shortages due to isolating with mild/asymptomatic covid and huge numbers of patients coming in with mild/asymptomatic covid having to be put into separate wards, also the looming threat of an NHS vaccine mandate which could cause huge numbers to leave the service or use it as excuse to double their salary and join a private practice (this video blew up recently:

)

what isn't going up at all is the numbers on ventitlators or ICU occupancy, london was the epicentre and has now peaked having followed the exact trends of South Africa.

if we just started treating it like an endemic disease like everything else we deal with, we'd genuinely be better off.

It's been 2 years, there's no excuse for not making provisions to train more nurses. Getting rid of the uni fees would have been the absolute bare minimum to start with for example.

[who is ted danson?]

Had moderna booster yesterday and woke up with a hella bad fever. REEEE

[Madrun Badrun]

Ya booster and second dose fucked me up.  The first was fine though. 

[Madrun Badrun]

https://globalnews.ca/news/8503151/quebec-to-impose-a-tax-on-people-who-are-unvaccinated-from-covid-19/

comes after showing that the stick works

https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/first-dose-vaccinations-quadruple-in-quebec-ahead-of-restrictions-at-liquor-and-cannabis-stores-1.5731327

[Raist]

bUt iT's onLY cASe NumBerS goINg Up WHo CaREs LoL 

[jorma]

bUt iT's onLY cASe NumBerS goINg Up WHo CaREs LoL 

(Image removed from quote.)

number of daily cases (7 day ma) is up 400% from three months ago and is 3 times higher than the previous record

number of daily deaths (7 day ma) is up like 20% from three months ago (and is 6.5 times lower than the previous record)

so.. yes?

[Raist]

A bunch of people (including here) were arguing that the latest new wave didn't matter, it's all fine because hospitalizations and deaths were flat.
Which, of course, turned out to be really dumb, but I guess a delay between a rise in cases and the rest is totally unheard of in the past two years.

Hospitalizations have nearly tripled in the past month, and there's well over 300 people dying every day, but I guess that's fine 

[Cauliflower Of Love]

20% increase of deaths is pretty significant.

[railGUN]

Officially 3 deep now. Double fiz and chased it with some 'derna.

 

[Potato]

The important question is what proportion of people who are infected are hospitalised or die?

Raw numbers are not a good measure of severity of disease.

[jorma]

20% increase of deaths is pretty significant.

that seems like it might be a perfectly normal variation between fall and winter to me.
at least in Sweden, idk about the uk

the number of daily new cases passed the previous peak over a month ago, and if the mortality rates correlated they should be in the 1000-1200 range instead of the current 191 daily deaths
i dont know how you could dispute that the virus is just not as lethal anymore

[benjipwns]

After reviewing the charts of every COVID-positive patient at UCSF hospitals on Jan. 4, Dr. Jeanne Noble, an associate professor of emergency medicine at UCSF, determined that 70% of them were in the hospital for other reasons.

"The real COVID crisis that our hospitals are facing is a severe staffing shortage that is compromising the quality of our care," Noble said Friday, shortly before the policy change was announced.

Staffing shortages are so severe that California is considering canceling elective surgeries, as happened during the worst of last year’s peak.

"The crisis from the Omicron peak is not generated by serious COVID illness in regions with highly vaxxed populations," Noble wrote in an email to SFGATE. "The crisis we are suffering in the Bay Area is largely driven by disruptive COVID policies that encourage asymptomatic testing and subsequent quarantines. … The vast majority of COVID-plus patients I take care of need no medical care and are quickly discharged home with reassurance."

[Madrun Badrun]

70% seems high and really doesn't change a lot.  If you have something else plus covid, it just exacerbates the issue.  Early in the pandemic, I knew a snowbird neighbor that had to come back to Canada because he had a heart attack and then found out he just happened to have covid and it just prolonged recovery. 

Also from today,

https://globalnews.ca/news/8502714/ontario-incidental-covid-hospitalizations-january-11/

The province indicated that there are currently 3,220 people in hospital with COVID-19 — around 54 per cent of them were admitted because of the virus, while about 46 per cent were admitted for other reasons but tested positive for COVID-19.

and more importantly

Of those hospitalized [with covid], the province said 477 are in ICUs, which is up by 39. Around 83 per cent of those in intensive care were admitted because of COVID, while around 17 per cent were admitted for other reasons.

[benjipwns]

A bunch of people (including here) were arguing that the latest new wave didn't matter, it's all fine because hospitalizations and deaths were flat.
Which, of course, turned out to be really dumb, but I guess a delay between a rise in cases and the rest is totally unheard of in the past two years.

Hospitalizations have nearly tripled in the past month, and there's well over 300 people dying every day, but I guess that's fine 

Who said it was "fine"? Himu's obviously antsy, but should we be ignoring or discarding new data for some reason? Especially about new variants? It seems rather important if the case rate is dramatically diverging from the hospitalization/death rate, and especially that it's continuing for the vaccinated. What is it that you're proposing? Are you proposing anything?

[Madrun Badrun]

Who said it was "fine"? Himu's obviously antsy

You answered your own question there.  Antsy is a nice way of saying unhinged.  No one is ignoring or disregarding new data but some people were and are using the diverging cases to hospitalizations as a way to downplay the severity of omicron and to show how mild it is.  Yes, it is mild in the sense that, if you get it, you have a lot less chance of dying.  It is not mild in the sense that more people will die because of its infectiousness.  The divergence is not evidence that precautions are not necessary or do not work.  So when you get 'antsy' people ranting about mask mandates and other precautions in one post and then using the divergence to downplay omicron in the very next post, then it's fine to show a chart showing what 'mild' actually means.