Covid #35: I am the Alpha and the Omega.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

55 minutes ago, L'oiseau français said:

Was that directed at me? I’m laughing at the thought of 10s of thousands of people unmasked in a stadium. No one is doing that here quite yet.

The Deer District was outside, so tots not a problem. 

[Fragile Bird]

12 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

The Deer District was outside, so tots not a problem. 

Because the tens of thousands were wearing masks?

eta - and they were all vaccinated?

[Fragile Bird]

I’m surprised that no one has mentioned the deaths of 7 or 8 fully vaccinated seniors in a Belgium nursing home, from a Colombian variant. Don’t know the Greek letter.

[Padraig]

Quote

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has listed the B1.621 lineage as part of the Kappa variant of the coronavirus, but not as a variant itself.  So far, scientists do not know if the B.1.621 lineage is more transmissible than other lineages or variants of the coronavirus, he said.

In Belgium, B.1.621 currently accounts for less than 1% of known cases of COVID-19, he said, compared to 2% of cases in the United States and more than that in Florida.

At the nursing home in Zaventem, 21 residents were infected with the variant along with several members of staff, Van Ranst told Reuters. The infected staff experienced only mild symptoms.

The seven people who died at the nursing home in the Belgian town of Zaventem, near Brussels, were all in their 80s or 90s, and some of them were already in a poor physical condition, said Marc Van Ranst, a virologist at the University of Leuven which conducted tests on the virus found at the nursing home.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/seven-die-after-outbreak-colombian-variant-covid-19-belgian-nursing-home-2021-08-06/

The Kappa variant doesn't seem to be very transmissable at least.  Probably a sequence of unfortunate events brought it to that home in Belgium.  But the people most susceptible to COVID pre-vaccination are still the most susceptible post-COVID (ignoring the non-vaccinated).  The fatality rates have noticeable increased in recent weeks but are still well below previous levels.

Edited to add: This is a very good article on the current state of affairs.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stephenbrozak/2021/08/06/novavaxs-manufacturing-issues-are-solvable-but-covid-19-vaccine-herd-immunity-may-not-be/?sh=5173ce1539b6

Quote

An inescapable conclusion is that vaccines alone are not an effective Covid-19 strategy. Therapeutics are needed. We now have a brief window of opportunity to identify and stockpile effective therapeutics. 

Novavax has said that it has filed for regulatory authorisation for its shot in India, Indonesia and the Philippines, which is nice.  The UK/EU/Canada/Australia will follow in Sept and the US in Q4.  Good that the West shouldn't get first dibs.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/health-pharma/novavax-again-delays-seeking-us-approval-for-covid-19-vaccine-1.4640485

[A Horse Named Stranger]

Since this happened in a nursing home, I'd also consider it possible that they were fully vaccinated more than six months ago*, and didn't have a booster shot yet.

 

*Belgium started their vaccination campaign in December IIRC. And since those were people from a vulnerable group, they very likely were among the first to get vaccinated.

 

Edit: P.S.

Curious why was Kappa refered to as a Colombian variant. Didn't that one also first show up in India (Oct. 2020)?

On that note, I think there are currently six unnamed strains I think.

A.23.1 (Uganda; Oct. 2020)

A.27 (France Dec. 2020)

B.1.1.318 (UK, Feb. 2021)

B.1.620 (?, Nov 2020)

B.1.617..3 (India Feb. 2021)

C.36.3 (Thailand (?), Feb. 2021)

If those earn their own respective own label, we might very well run out of Greek letters before too long.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Booked my first trip since the pandemic started. Going to the resort itself is no biggie, but I still am not excited to get onto a plane.

[Fragile Bird]

2 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

Booked my first trip since the pandemic started. Going to the resort itself is no biggie, but I still am not excited to get onto a plane.

The US had about 130 cases of air rage in 2019. There have been 3500 so far this year, and the total might soon exceed the total number of cases in US history.

Stay safe on your trip! If an attendant needs help, I hope you give it.

[Padraig]

6 hours ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Curious why was Kappa refered to as a Colombian variant. Didn't that one also first show up in India (Oct. 2020)?

Fair question.  It is not the Kappa variant (as you say, that came from India) but it seems to have a similar mutation.

This is an interesting piece on Novavax's issues with manufacturing in the US.  But the hope is that they wouldn't affect its non-US supply.

Quote

Despite its setback in the United States, where contractors make the vaccine in North Carolina and Texas, Novavax is pushing ahead with manufacturing in other countries. The company also announced yesterday that, with its partner the Serum Institute of India, it has filed for EUAs in India, the Philippines, and Indonesia—its first such filings. It also expects this month to file an application for emergency use with the World Health Organization, which is a prerequisite for exports to many countries.

 

[Kalbear]

Fucking lol, China is now pushing a lab leak theory from the US for the delta variant 

https://amp-cnn-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/08/06/china/china-covid-origin-mic-intl-hnk/index.html?amp_gsa=1&amp_js_v=a6&usqp=mq331AQIKAGwASCAAgM%3D#amp_tf=From %1%24s&aoh=16283584554814&csi=0&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2021%2F08%2F06%2Fchina%2Fchina-covid-origin-mic-intl-hnk%2Findex.html

[Jaxom 1974]

On 8/6/2021 at 1:42 PM, Tywin et al. said:

It's a damn miracle it's not a lot worse. Stupid Wisconsin doing stupid Wisconsin things.

Missed the original post about this...but thank the gods I was out of town when that went down.  What sucks more about it is that there is a lot of hesitancy in the city of Milwaukee, as those who can have seemed to delight in spreading bad info the the POC population...

[Fragile Bird]

21 minutes ago, Kaligator said:

Fucking lol, China is now pushing a lab leak theory from the US for the delta variant 

I think there are many people who still think AIDs was deliberately planted in Africa by the US. That was the Russians who spread that rumor, wasn’t it?

[DMC]

6 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

Going to the resort itself is no biggie, but I still am not excited to get onto a plane.

I flew in late June.  They insisted you keep your mask on throughout the flight..unless you were eating or drinking - and they did serve drinks and snacks.  They did not serve alcohol.

[DireWolfSpirit]

And the U.S. with over 130,000 Daily New Cases yesterday topping 6 figures for several days consecutive this week.

Florida leading the way with their Daily New Cases at record highs for the pandemic and the most chilling W graph imaginable.

We are in for pain.

[DMC]

Fake vaccine cards emerge in U.S., E.U. as vaccine mandates loom

If your vaccine card is anything like mine this is completely unsurprising.  Although, I suppose it's surprising that people aren't just making forgeries themselves, pretty sure I could.

[Kalbear]

In retrospect Florida doing okay against previous variants but not against delta should have been more predictable given Florida weather and India weather similarities. 

 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

27 minutes ago, DMC said:

I flew in late June.  They insisted you keep your mask on throughout the flight..unless you were eating or drinking - and they did serve drinks and snacks.  They did not serve alcohol.

Yeah, the whole concept of we need to keep our masks on, especially in a tube in the sky, but take them off when you need to eat or drink....

Sun Country has largely done away with first class, but the return flight from LA only costs $15 more to get basically the old seats, and you get a drink on the house. So why not?

[DMC]

9 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Yeah, the whole concept of we need to keep our masks on, especially in a tube in the sky, but take them off when you need to eat or drink....

Gives new meaning to the term flying death tube...

 

[Fragile Bird]

3 minutes ago, Chataya de Fleury said:

There is the thought that you aren’t all eating and drinking at the same time?

Well, surely you are if it’s a flight with a meal?

[Filippa Eilhart]

59 minutes ago, DMC said:

Fake vaccine cards emerge in U.S., E.U. as vaccine mandates loom

If your vaccine card is anything like mine this is completely unsurprising.  Although, I suppose it's surprising that people aren't just making forgeries themselves, pretty sure I could.

the EU ones are a QR code which is then verified with official apps so it’s supposed to be hard to counterfeit…. but obviously it isn’t  

[DMC]

1 minute ago, Filippa Eilhart said:

the EU ones are a QR code which is then verified with official apps so it’s supposed to be hard to counterfeit…. but obviously it isn’t  

Yeah I woulda thought that'd be harder too, but apparently not so much.  Per the link above:

Quote

 

In countries in the European Union, where a digital certificate with a dedicated QR code for each person serves as a vaccination card, fake certificates are also on the rise.

In Italy, for instance, about 30 social media profiles have popped up that purport to sell fake certificates, about 500 of which have been sold in the past few months.

 

Then again, doesn't specify if those fake certificates actually work.