The Dow dropped 900 points on news that a new Covid mutation could bypass current vaccine protection AND be more transmittable than Delta.
The only way this could be more dangerous is if mortality rates also spike.
Such a mutation if proven within the two week frantic testing regime would risk all we’ve gained.
Politically this becomes devastating, in NZ we were just coming to grips with setting a roof on Delta, facing Omicron which could make current vaccinations weaker AND be more transmittable would demand level 4 lockdown.
The ‘good’ news is that a vaccine that inoculates against Omicron would be 90 days from creation to arm.
So. If Nu can bypass current vaccination protections AND spread more than Delta we are in for an inevitable lockdown and certainly tighter MIQ until a vaccine is available for this new mutation.
Papers show the DHBs struggled to plan for Delta.
Omicron might be coming, are we ready?
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Let’s not panic just yet. Ask Judith what happens when you panic!
well lets get quarantine the fuck out of Auckland .
If what I’m reading is correct, when it inevitably arrives here, it won’t just be Auckland clusters.
The cynical view would be that it can’t happen @Hemi because
a) politicians have complete ‘faith’ in their officials who think the logistics of out-of-city quaratine facilities and the cost of providing something suitable are not cost effective in that space, going forward, and
b) because senior officials and politicians must NEVER EVER admit to getting something wrong – especially when there’s been such a huge investment in PR bullshit and spin. It’s better to pull out managerial speak such as ‘kaizen’ and continuous improvement to legitimise their commitment to incrementalism. (Look how long it took for them to finally agree that mask wearing was important when the likes of Michael Baker had been busting his guts trying to convince them)
Yep .Purpose built quarantine centres. Transportable builds( employ people!!!) can be used for homeless and other low cost housing needs after the pandemic.Been fucking obvious since day one of this nightmare. Far too 1930’s first Labour govt for the govt and it’s lack of forward thinking. All spin no brains!
Well said.
It’s important that when politicians make statements about variants of a disease during a deadly pandemic, they know exactly what they are talking about.
“Nothing to see here” will almost certainly come back and bite you on the arse and create another Tui’s billboard.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/456629/no-need-to-be-alarmed-about-new-south-african-variant-grant-robertson
I respect Grant Robertson but he was not the right person to be “informing” the public about the new potentially even deadlier than Delta variant of Covid-19.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-market-news-live-updates-november-26-2021-125443465.html
The obvious questions for me that arise from this new variant.
1) Will the efficacy of the vaccine hold up?
2) How will we cope with another long lockdown if needed?
3) Will it be the final blow for many businesses?
4) Will the “anti” protest movement get even more OTT with their expert-novice rage?
5) When will the world take their eyes off those trying to help and instead focus on the origin of Covid-19?
So we now need new vaccine legislation to cover for the old legislation (which hasn’t yet been introduced for the previous variant)?
Here we go again!
The GFC MK11!
Yep Spiked again and again and again. We won’t get out of this until we get rid off the cause, Kaputalismo. It destroys habitats, impoverishes much of the world, and pulls up the ladder when the casino collapses.
Fortress NZ Inc needs to be employed pronto!
SHUT THE GATE!
heh, …we will be leaving importing ships cargo a mile offshore on barges for 14 days to ensure quarantine,…there’s gonna be a lot of rotten bananas.
Seriously I agree, – lets not listen to the business class again and their push for a ‘ Trans Tasman ‘ bubble. It was because of that we got delta in the first place.
Yep if delta has an R rating of 1-6
Then the new variant that spreads faster and being more infectious it seems it is going to be a hell ride of more than 1-6.
The anti Authority types are going to be screaming murder murder murder.
They just don’t get it human rights as under the Un human rights act and nz bill of rights have limitations when it comes to total communities health.
If human rights have limitations, they’re not rights are they.
Meanwhile from the American Heart association….
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/circ.144.suppl_1.10712
….”changes resulted in an increase of the PULS score from 11% 5 yr ACS risk to 25% 5 yr ACS risk. At the time of this report, these changes persist for at least 2.5 months post second dose of vac.We conclude that the mRNA vacs dramatically increase inflammation on the endothelium and T cell infiltration of cardiac muscle”…
In laymans terms a much elevated risk out heart attacks.
I prefix this by saying I am completely open to side effects and other concerns re mRNA vaccines, but this post demonstrates the dangers of the internet and social media…… the implication is that the American Heart Association is saying this concerning fact…. they are not, and it isn’t what it is presented as.
This is a non-peer reviewed conference abstract / poster, a long way short of a published peer reviewed paper
It is to generate discussion and is not reproducible fact. It is interesting, but nothing more.
It does not prove an association. It does not prove anything about outcome.
This is a very specific scoring system, using a proprietary panel of markers so extrapolating it to all people having mRNA vaccines is dangerous and non-scientific.
Get your list of names updated and ready 😉
Shut the boarder.
It is hard for Neo-lib shits to go without their next hit of greed, so we have to force them to do it.
Shut the boarder.
The B O R D E R must be shut.
Martyn Bradbury: A virus? Please strip me of all my basic human rights. And if you could strip everyone else of their basic human rights that would be wonderful.
Lockdowns are dead and gone. I for one will ignore any future lockdowns. I’ve had enough of a fascist government.
I suspect many other people are similarly over this bullshit.
As for thanking this government? Good luck! They’ve fucked everything they’ve touched.
MIQ? Fucked.
Vaccine Passports? Fucked.
The list of course goes in to include light rail, kiwibuild, etc.
Wait for it, wait for it….it’s no worse than the flu right?
Correct me if I’m wrong: The current death rate due to Omicron stands at zero ??
The virus mutating (losing information) then reproducing according to its remaining genome; this often leads to less harmful viruses, even ones that die out. This is not wishful thinking.. this has been the path of many harmful and highly-infectious viruses.
Obviously natural immunity gives multi – faceted/level immunity and there is no reason to believe such natural immunity would NOT give protection against ALL mutations. Initial contraction is another matter.
No Covid in NZ would be ideal, though if Covid is to continue circulating in NZ, ideally you’d want the dominate strain to be the least deadly..
The original virus seemed rather deadly, hence American Intelligence Services reporting people dropping dead on the streets of Wuhan and body-bags outside their Institute of Virology. Then Delta came – more transmissible but generally accepted to be less deadly
Omicron might prove to be less deadly again [than Delta]. It sounds reasonable to take a wait and see approach from our isolated vantage point here in NZ. Saying that, to believe Covid isn’t mutation (losing information) and reproducing in NZ already is unscientific and foolish, though I don’t think anyone is saying that it isn’t or can’t.
As Covid loses information and tries-in-vain to error corrected to it’s pre-adulterated state [pre Wuhan Lab], it is likely to die out or at least become harmless to humans, like most corona viruses are/have.
Surely you jest?
In many ways mine is a hopeful narrative, which is unfamiliar given NZ has gone through a period of sustained, often fear based propaganda.
Whether you agree with the messaging or not, it has been fear based and often precluded informing the public in an in-depth, scientific manner.
Regarding mutations, the public’s and media’s understanding of mutations (loss of genetic information) is at the level of a Marvel Movie; pseudo-science – ridiculous.
Like how UK scientist scientists successfully wiped out a population of malaria-transmitting mosquitoes by using a radical form of genetic engineering to render the females infertile as they breed. I imagine this is a laboratory imposed mutation (removing information from the genome to stop reproduction) and having that reproduce as a dominant trait.
I don’t jest, I just think mine is an unfamiliar narrative.
Hopefully it is the case, and you are quite right, following the track of earlier viral pandemics/endemics say for instance in the 19th century which was pre knowledge of virology,…most tracked the path of being highly transmissible, lethal, then, after 1-2 years, sometimes more, seemed to fade and that can only be attributed to the processes you describe. Even H1N1 Spanish flu did the same and became extinct in its most lethal form. However it did go on to become the ancestors of some of todays modern flu’s. This then was without the aid of modern vaccines and specialist hospital treatments. Thus we wait for some good news on this front…
” Politically this becomes devastating,”
No, it doesn’t?
( Thank Christ greedy, loopy national and it’s cadre of deep state criminals are nowhere near this. )
We, and I mean all of us, not just the cautious, possum-caught-in-the-head-lights, pink fingered members of our current government who must re tack and head to open water immediately please?
What does common sense tell us? Particularly in a situation like this? That’s right. Spark up a blunt, have a beer and pop up a sign that reads ” To the World! We’re closed. Re opening a bit later when the dust’s settled. Good luck! ”
We have vast and priceless resources. If you can’t comprehend what I mean by ‘priceless resources’ , go and check out a photograph of a very young mother in a Syrian hospital trying to comfort her baby son who’s dying from starvation. To get her boy help, she had to betroth ( Sell.) her 5 year old daughter to a fellow, They’re to be married when the baby’s fifteen.
See? We don’t need to do that. There are no land mines in the long grass here. There are no troops building up along our borders, and if they try that shit on, a sou wester will come along and blow the fuckers to South America.
The Banks? FUCK ! the banks. FUCK THE BANKS! Fuck them. Fuck them and fuck the debts they concocted out of thin air and fuck the rosy high-wankery of their manipulative minions in real estate and retail. FUCK THEM !
We need then like we need Nob Rot. We’re incredibly lucky and we don’t need anyone else. Thanks but no thanks.
Now? How about we trade 35 million peoples worth of food for a vaccine top up and a few PS 5’s and games to keep the kids happy?
We’re in fucking paradise! We’re where people come TO, to holiday. I can show you the fifteenth deepest lake in the world here and I can scoop up and drink a glass of water from it and not suffer any ill effects. I read in some God forsaken middle eastern counrty, or African state, was it, where women had to walk 20 k then dig down 2 meters to get what looked like a muddy slurry full of the most hideous diseases and parasites!
That dick head who went to AU then back without being MIQ’d should be convicted of a crime. Instead? We get all misty eyed about human rights. Was it his RIGHT to make us this fucking sick? Based on that logic, it must then be my right to murder people and rob banks?
I think our government is being forced to do the bidding of foreign others. I think our government is being told what to do because it’s not doing what it could easily do to protect fucking us!
You want to come home to AO/NZ? Great! Awesome. I’ll put the kettle on. But you’ll have to MIQ in Australia or similar for a month before you do.
Good for you.You hit the nail on the head
…”Spark up a blunt, have a beer and pop up a sign that reads ” To the World! We’re closed. Re opening a bit later when the dust’s settled. Good luck! ”…
Absolutely fabulous post ” CB, cheered me up immensely after suffering the effects of imbibing a little too much last night. And yes we can do it! And yes we are so jolly fortunate in this land of ours! We really are and its time to look around us and give thanks , – hectares of land productions, a wealth in rainfall and water catchments, vast ocean resources !!! And even if we need it,…oil and gas reserves. We need to not be so gloom and doom when measured against those in other lands who are forced to live in conditions you mentioned. So thanks for the reminder !
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