How are we getting through it?

[Steve J]

We used to eat about three a day when we were busy and they certainly did keep us going, especially when working all nighters

[Techno II]

Oh, Goody.

Another 'variant of concern' raises its head.
I suppose it'll be a few weeks before we know how 'nasty' this one will actually be.
Fingers crossed that the mutations on this one are 'naff' as regards to transmission.....and the current jabs WILL be effective against it.   

Hey, Ho - Phil.

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Phil DONT PANIC     

[Steve J]

Apparently more transmissible, but the vaccines still effective, but less so compared to the Delta variant. Still early days though.

Cases up 20% last week in South Glos, after 2-3 weeks of them falling .

[Heedless Horseman]

At least UK Gov't has quickly slapped on travel restrictions from area. 'Cannot Believe' WHO advising against restrictions!   
OK, MAY be a storm in a teacup, with only a few cases FOUND with multi mutations, in a SMALL area, and MIGHT reduce effectiveness of vacs and COULD be more transmissible... so 'wait and see'?  HUH???
Original Covid started small.
And someone bleats about being unable to see family at Xmas. OK, may have had jabs and tests... designed around original variant. "Here, look at what we've brought you!".

Hundreds of variants... but this one seems especially 'worrying'. So... if it or others show signs of spread... SHUT DOWN TRAVEL apart from Trade... and treat Drivers, etc. with extra caution. THEN wait and see.

Personally, I would be cautious about produce, also. Wine may have been in store for months... but Flowers?

Oh, well, 'Flap' might be over by Christmas.   

[Techno II]

'Cannot Believe' WHO advising against restrictions!   

That made me go 'EH ?' , as well, Keith.

Like you say...may well be a storm in a teacup.

I STILL wait to hear about my booster ...it is over 6 months since my second jab....ditto Von, now.

From what I've gleaned from the  Welsh NHS site, they've closed the 'walk in centres' for the time being 'cos too many folk were turning up, all at once.

Cheers - Phil.

[Raider4]

'Cannot Believe' WHO advising against restrictions!

I seem to recall that the WHO were initially advising that masks were not needed, 18 months ago?

[Steve J]

We have a few walk in centres, but I think most have closed due to the surge of walk-ins, leaving them only open for bookings, which makes sense. When I had my booster the volunteers were all commenting on how very busy it was, much more so than normal apparently.

[Heedless Horseman]

Hmm. Is it possible that Omicron variant just might mark a watershed in the Covid story?
It certainly is scary in the number of mutations increasing its transmission and reducing effectiveness of existing vaccines, but...

It is very early days, yet, but Omicron just may produce 'milder' symptoms... at least in some patients. More like a nasty Flu.
Is this how what we now regard as Flu started up? Severe epidemics with high mortality, gradually stabilising into a more endemic but survivable condition... though still unpleasant and a great risk to those vulnerable, (Hence Flu jabs).

Very early days. 'Milder' symptoms may be due to many cases being younger, (Social contact?)... so better able to cope with infection. Increasing hospitalisations may be due to infection numbers, rather than severity.  'MAY'.

Possibly, as Delta variant outstripped the original variant in transmision, (Though original will probably still be around?), Omicron super transmission just MIGHT make it the dominant form over the more serious variants?
Might this actually help to build up general 'immunity'?
Caution, though. The sheer number of mutations indicate that this form may be more 'unstable' and subject to even more mutations... especially as infection numbers multiply. Some of these may be more dangerous... so we still do not want it around. Containment, (if a losing battle), is vastly preferable to slow its spread until more study of effects and to buy time for vaccine tweaks.

https://www.cityam.com/coronavirus-blessing-in-the-sky-omicron-may-be-very-positive-news-for-the-world-if-new-covid-mutation-kills-off-more-lethal-delta-variant/

Very early days... so... in My view, keep on masking, be cautious in social interactions... and impose travel restrictions... unfortunate for those who have risked travel overseas... I would not have.

[steve_holmes_11]

To back up the Horseman (above).

Severity is likely to follow "regression to the mean".
In layman terms, the odds are the new variants will be less deadly than what we've seen to date.
Besides, we now have a vaccine that attenuates, of not completely preventing symptoms.

Transmissibility doesn't follow regression to the mean, because variants compete for carriers.
This means low transmission variants disappear fast, often so fast that they are not observed.

This competition (generally you won't suffer 2 vuruses (virii?) simultaneously), means that a transmissable, but low severity variant can damp down an outbreak, even one as big as a pandemic.

The disclaimer is that some viruses (virii?) can co-exist: for example HIV and Hepatitis.
So the picture looks good, with reservations.

[Leon]

My concern for this new variant is how quickly the UK government have moved to reintroduce restrictions again.  They didn't seem too concerned with 40,000 new cases per day for the past couple of months, but have now reacted very differently to a handful of cases of the new strain.  Whether there's more to it or not, I guess we'll see.

[Heedless Horseman]

I'm not in Gov't loop. but think rapid response may be due to two factors.
 
One being the usual political B/S from opposition parties attacking 'inaction' over previous variants... but, yes, I do think in the early stages of Covid19 , there should have been much harsher travel restrictions, sooner... especially as there were no vaccines. There was an understandable reluctance to incur economic damage... but that came anyway.

The other is that Omicron has so many potential differences to earlier variants, that no-one can yet have any certainty about it's effects...especially with regard to vaccines.

If in doubt, raise the alarm and close the gates. Some may be annoyed, but they would be much more than annoyed if they got 'overrun' due to dithering.

[Techno II]

Von & I have given up on getting the booster for the time being.

Contradictory messages comes from the Welsh NHS.

"Don't phone to book an appointment."
"Phone to book an appointment if you're over 65 and your second jab was over 6 months ago." (That's us.)

Five goes to try and book an appointment, by Von, yesterday. Each call cut off by the automated answer.
Heard from a friend who had been notified (by post) to book an appointment...She gave up for the reason above.

I think we'll just wait until things calm down.    One worry is that 'they' forgot Von re her second jab, so we're half expecting that to happen again.

Anecdotally...(again, from friends) the centres that were running, were poorly organised and folk were queuing in their cars in the roads outside the centres for two hours plus.

It would appear, because of this, they're not posting reminders out....until things settle.

Cheers - Phil.

[Raider4]

Had my booster yesterday - Moderna. Felt rough in the evening, and my arm is aching badly this AM. Poxy Tesco's would not allow me to buy 2 packs of ibuprofen and 1 box of Lemsip together. Grrr. What am I going to do, overdose on Lemsip?

[Orcs]

Had my booster yesterday - Moderna. Felt rough in the evening, and my arm is aching badly this AM. Poxy Tesco's would not allow me to buy 2 packs of ibuprofen and 1 box of Lemsip together. Grrr. What am I going to do, overdose on Lemsip?

I just go round twice.

The stupid thing is that the maximum 2 packs of paracetamol they allow you to buy is enough to kill you anyway.