That is a load of straw man arguments lumped together.
True. An intelligent person wouldn't take any notice of what these various media say in the first place. But I think the video still helps to explain why so many people are vaccine hesitant.
I'm not sure this out-compete terminology is accurate, viruses co-exist all the time.
I understood mutations to be totally random
The mechanism behind mutation is random - errors in replication. However only some confer a survival advantage to the organism (more transmissible, pumps out more virus from the infected, drives the host towards risky behaviour*). These are the ones that take hold. Mistakes in copying happen all the time, but usually do not generate viable mutations.
How do you know the "errors in replication are random"? All you are saying is you don't know what causes them.
Well the idea of dna/rna transcription is that sometimes an inappropriate base gets inserted into the rna/dna, which can lead to the wrong residue in the resulting protein. I’m not an expert in why this happens, but I think it is essentially random. Happy to be corrected on this if you know different?
I don't know different. What I am saying is that the term "random" is a declaration of our ignorance. Probabilities are subjective, not objective (I'm with de Finetti and Goode on this). Saying that some features in the the world are "random" is just an admission that we do not know what causes them. In other words it is a statement about ourselves, not about the external world.
edited
OK but you should be happy with "non-selected" as a substitute for "random," which is the point here, unless you think God or the Omega Point or something is driving the mutations.
No. I tried substituting "non-selected" for "random" in turbotubbs's post and it doesn't make any better sense. Of course I think something drives the mutations but we don't know what it is. That's all that you can mean by calling it "random". By the way, I do not deny that the whole apparatus of probability theory is productive. Just how you interpret it is the issue. Perhaps that's what Einstein meant when he said "God does not play dice" (he was not religious).
I am sorry, my mind just will not be changed, I just think if the cases remain high, there's a high chance of mutation. I am just bemused why nobody seems concerned.
Higher chance of mutation with higher cases, yes, although for me this is a global point more than a UK one. We've seen how borders are irrelevant with this thing. It's a real world shrinker.
Omicron clearly did not develop out of one of the earlier variants of concern, such as Alpha or Delta. Instead, it appears to have evolved in parallel—and in the dark. Omicron is so different from the millions of SARS-CoV-2 genomes that have been shared publicly that pinpointing its closest relative is difficult, says Emma Hodcroft, a virologist at the University of Bern. It likely diverged early from other strains, she says. “I would say it goes back to mid-2020.”
Thus is my point, there is nothing to stop another variant from appearing
No, but one that evolves from Omicron that is simultaneously more transmissible and more virulent? That's the scenario that is being debated.
I was talking about mutations to COVID. If the virus is around, it can mutate.
My point is that not every case in the world is Omicron.
Nobody at all concerned high cases leads to a mutation that is as bad as Delta? Remember that this strain has mutated from an older strain than Delta did
Perhaps I made an incorrect assumption in thinking high cases referred to the UK. If there's going to be a mutation in the UK, it's going to be from Omicron.
I never said the UK, the cases are going up everywhere! We had just been discussing other countries.
My point is that unless every case of COVID in the world is Omicron, another variant that isn't Omicron could in fact already exist. Which is what they think happened with this one.
I simply think the complacency is off the scale with this one
I honestly doubt you were thinking globally when you made that original statement. Yes, another variant could arise in another country where they don't have Omicron (although I doubt there will be many of those soon), but in that scenario case numbers in the UK would be irrelevant.
Eh? Of course case numbers are relevant
God this is tedious. But our omicron cases would soon disappear to be replaced by this other variant that you’re so worried about.
It is not possible to predict the future of pandemics, but we cannot be hiding behind the curtains in fear of catching something at sometime in the future
Life is for living and while governments have a duty to keep people safe, they also have a duty to respect individual freedoms
I have no idea whether omicron will mutate or another more deadly strain appears, but the evidence is that boosters provide good protection and until that is disproved then we need to live our lives
I thought life was what happened to you when you were busy making other plans?
As I recall there were conniptions at one time about trhe use of convalescent plasma therapies - I forget the details btu the issue was that people were lingering for months with active covid infections possibly from more than one source as they stayed in hospital.
Some were worried about it permitting recombination between viral strains which would give new permutations of mutations. Or is this my memory? (Also reassortment of whole genes if relevant to covid.)
The other issue would be the possibility of virus evolution under limited immune system pressure allowing escape to new variants, like the effect of incomplete antibiotic courses allowing analogous evolution in bacteria of antibiotic resistance. But again I have not kept up with this.
Nobody at all concerned high cases leads to a mutation that is as bad as Delta? Remember that this strain has mutated from an older strain than Delta did
Not at all, no.
The virus is endemic globally now. There's probably going to be billions of cases globally in years to come and a variant can spread around the globe.
So in the context of billions of cases globally, what does a few tens or hundreds of thousands of cases daily matter domestically? Its like pissing into the ocean and thinking that will affect the sea level.
The virus is not endemic. Please stop posting this rubbish.
The more you post, the more it shows that you know little.
The virus is endemic.
If you still think we can eradicate this virus globally with a zero Covid strategy, then you're utterly delusional.
You do not know what endemic means. It is by definition not endemic while it is spreading exponentially.
Terminology aside, your point is gibberish. We have had rather successful zero smallpox and zero polio strategies. And in any case, never mind eradication, what do you propose we do if we get a markedly more lethal variant than we have seen so far? Piles of bodies in the street, or lockdown while the wave passes over us? That question is entirely independent of whether it is endemic, and of whether we could/should pursue a zero covid strategy.
COVID would be closer to having a zero Flu strategy. It would be nice....
For some reason I was reminded of a scientist who said that when we have worked out how to cure AIDS, on the way we will have found out how to cure most cancers, and made the common cold extinct.
Nanobots in the bloodstream would probably do that.
Then a sudden urge to buy Microsoft products.
LOL
On a serious note, I think he was largely right. By the time we have the ability to cure AIDS, we will have acquired, on the way, a vast amount of *fine* control over the human immune system.
The Bio-N-tech bods have got an mRNA HIV vaccine heading to Phase I trials, based on the work they did with the Cov-19 vaccine.
That will be something awesome to have come from the pandemic.
Some of the work with MRNA "vaccines" and cancer is equally amazing. Show your immune system the cancer cell, and let it do the hard work of hunting down and eliminating it.
I've said in the past that the progress made in the last two years may save more lives than Covid-19 has cost.
In the long term.
But then what we need to do is increase QoL for those who live longer.
I am sorry, my mind just will not be changed, I just think if the cases remain high, there's a high chance of mutation. I am just bemused why nobody seems concerned.
Higher chance of mutation with higher cases, yes, although for me this is a global point more than a UK one. We've seen how borders are irrelevant with this thing. It's a real world shrinker.
I am sorry, my mind just will not be changed, I just think if the cases remain high, there's a high chance of mutation. I am just bemused why nobody seems concerned.
There are currently four endemic coronaviruses that cause common cold symptoms. At least one of them probably began in the human population as a pandemic with high mortality. Do you advocate restrictions to mitatage the risk that one of these common cold viruses could mutate again?
"At least one of them probably began in the human population as a pandemic with high mortality."
I don't think that's true. While it's certainly possible, it's equally likely they came from animals - particularly domesticated ones.
I think it's probably fair to say that "One or more of them may have begun in the human population as a pandemic with high mortality."
I'm not sure this out-compete terminology is accurate, viruses co-exist all the time.
I understood mutations to be totally random
The mechanism behind mutation is random - errors in replication. However only some confer a survival advantage to the organism (more transmissible, pumps out more virus from the infected, drives the host towards risky behaviour*). These are the ones that take hold. Mistakes in copying happen all the time, but usually do not generate viable mutations.
How do you know the "errors in replication are random"? All you are saying is you don't know what causes them.
Well the idea of dna/rna transcription is that sometimes an inappropriate base gets inserted into the rna/dna, which can lead to the wrong residue in the resulting protein. I’m not an expert in why this happens, but I think it is essentially random. Happy to be corrected on this if you know different?
I don't know different. What I am saying is that the term "random" is a declaration of our ignorance. Probabilities are subjective, not objective (I'm with de Finetti and Goode on this). Saying that some features in the the world are "random" is just an admission that we do not know what causes them. In other words it is a statement about ourselves, not about the external world.
edited
But the nature of the genetic code is that it's pretty far removed from the resiulting organism. Obviously it's not totally random in the sense that certain errors will be commoner than others (uptake of the wrong base pair). And imagine what happens if you hit the gene control sequence or the development control genes. So the results of the mutations aren't random in the sense that they have to have some relation to changes to what is there. You're far more likely to develop, say, skin cancer or be unable to smell cyanide or taste phenylthiourea than grow a complete leg on your head. But the original mutations are a long way from the biological effects. Like changing bits at random on a hard disk, actually.
Not sure we're disagreeing. My beef is with the use and (mis)understanding of the word "random". See my reply to Ishmail.
That is a load of straw man arguments lumped together.
Vaccination hesitancy stems from the government.
Why would we need restrictions if vaccines are so effective? Why do people need to be careful?
If someone was selling you a car, and they said at the same time you needed insurance against it breaking down after a year, wouldn't you think twice about buying the thing in the first place?
Car manufacturers make a lot of money on warranties, and we still need restrictions because not everyone is vaccinated yet.
Tell that to the poor folk in Gibraltar. 100% vaccination. Lockdown for Christmas.
If 100% vaccination truly did mean freedom, I'm sure all but the most nutty refusiks would fall into line. Is the government even promising that? or committing to it? Nope/
They rule nothing out, as ever. And that means restrictions could be brought in post 100% vaccination.
TBF, there's a fair amount of Xmas catch up in there (as there was with the UK). Italy's recorded numbers for the 26th and 27th were way below the 7 day average, with just 25k and 30k cases.
I am sorry, my mind just will not be changed, I just think if the cases remain high, there's a high chance of mutation. I am just bemused why nobody seems concerned.
Higher chance of mutation with higher cases, yes, although for me this is a global point more than a UK one. We've seen how borders are irrelevant with this thing. It's a real world shrinker.
We could stop cutting down rainforests.
Bolsonaro out next year? I think so.
He'll get the chop?
Unfortunately we'll probably have to settle for voted out.
I am sorry, my mind just will not be changed, I just think if the cases remain high, there's a high chance of mutation. I am just bemused why nobody seems concerned.
Higher chance of mutation with higher cases, yes, although for me this is a global point more than a UK one. We've seen how borders are irrelevant with this thing. It's a real world shrinker.
We could stop cutting down rainforests.
Bolsonaro out next year? I think so.
He'll get the chop?
Unfortunately we'll probably have to settle for voted out.
Along hopefully with some of the more jungly types he hangs out with.
TBF, there's a fair amount of Xmas catch up in there (as there was with the UK). Italy's recorded numbers for the 26th and 27th were way below the 7 day average, with just 25k and 30k cases.
And there's probably more to come. If you look at Italy's number from 25/12, it was 55k. Multiply that by 3 and you'd expect to get 165k over the 26, 27 and 28th. They actually reported 153k, so I'd expect some more catch up tomorrow.
Nobody at all concerned high cases leads to a mutation that is as bad as Delta? Remember that this strain has mutated from an older strain than Delta did
Not at all, no.
The virus is endemic globally now. There's probably going to be billions of cases globally in years to come and a variant can spread around the globe.
So in the context of billions of cases globally, what does a few tens or hundreds of thousands of cases daily matter domestically? Its like pissing into the ocean and thinking that will affect the sea level.
The virus is not endemic. Please stop posting this rubbish.
The more you post, the more it shows that you know little.
The virus is endemic.
If you still think we can eradicate this virus globally with a zero Covid strategy, then you're utterly delusional.
You do not know what endemic means. It is by definition not endemic while it is spreading exponentially.
Terminology aside, your point is gibberish. We have had rather successful zero smallpox and zero polio strategies. And in any case, never mind eradication, what do you propose we do if we get a markedly more lethal variant than we have seen so far? Piles of bodies in the street, or lockdown while the wave passes over us? That question is entirely independent of whether it is endemic, and of whether we could/should pursue a zero covid strategy.
COVID would be closer to having a zero Flu strategy. It would be nice....
For some reason I was reminded of a scientist who said that when we have worked out how to cure AIDS, on the way we will have found out how to cure most cancers, and made the common cold extinct.
Nanobots in the bloodstream would probably do that.
Then a sudden urge to buy Microsoft products.
LOL
On a serious note, I think he was largely right. By the time we have the ability to cure AIDS, we will have acquired, on the way, a vast amount of *fine* control over the human immune system.
The Bio-N-tech bods have got an mRNA HIV vaccine heading to Phase I trials, based on the work they did with the Cov-19 vaccine.
That will be something awesome to have come from the pandemic.
Some of the work with MRNA "vaccines" and cancer is equally amazing. Show your immune system the cancer cell, and let it do the hard work of hunting down and eliminating it.
I've said in the past that the progress made in the last two years may save more lives than Covid-19 has cost.
In the long term.
But then what we need to do is increase QoL for those who live longer.
I am sorry, my mind just will not be changed, I just think if the cases remain high, there's a high chance of mutation. I am just bemused why nobody seems concerned.
There are currently four endemic coronaviruses that cause common cold symptoms. At least one of them probably began in the human population as a pandemic with high mortality. Do you advocate restrictions to mitatage the risk that one of these common cold viruses could mutate again?
"At least one of them probably began in the human population as a pandemic with high mortality."
I don't think that's true. While it's certainly possible, it's equally likely they came from animals - particularly domesticated ones.
I think it's probably fair to say that "One or more of them may have begun in the human population as a pandemic with high mortality."
Sorry, that was just badly phrased. I meant that when it first hit the human population, it caused high mortality, not that it emerged directly in humans. The theory that the 'Russian flu' pandemic at the end of the 19th century was caused by OC43 is quite credible.
In general, it seems intuitively correct that a novel respiratory virus will always spell trouble for vulnerable people who've never been exposed to it before and will not have any level of pre-existing immunity, so I would assume that every endemic respiratory virus in circulation was at one time responsible for a lot of deaths.
A further 183,037 cases of Covid-19 have been reported across the UK, a new daily record, which includes five days' worth of data for Northern Ireland. A further 57 people have died in the UK within 28 days of a positive test.
The Mandalorin without a baby yoda spin off series is rather disappointing...
Agree, nearly as tedious as the latest special from The Grand Tour.
The latest Grand Tour was so bad I can only presume they were meant to film in France - as it was all about French cars. Then Covid scotched it at the last minute and they had to rescript it and shoot it in random parts of Wales, odd bits of southern England, etc
It made no sense, therefore, and it was lamentable. Unfunny and incoherent. I do detect the dead hand of corona
The Mandalorin without a baby yoda spin off series is rather disappointing...
Agree, nearly as tedious as the latest special from The Grand Tour.
The latest Grand Tour was so bad I can only presume they were meant to film in France - which makes sense, as it was all about French cars. Then Covid scotched it at the last minute and they had to rescript it and shoot it in random parts of Wales, odd bits of southern England, etc
It made no sense and it was lamentable
Did you watch the Top Gear Christmas special.....that made the Grand Tour episode seem genius.
Drag out to an hour driving some Christmas trees from Wales to Bath......that was the "special".
The Mandalorin without a baby yoda spin off series is rather disappointing...
Agree, nearly as tedious as the latest special from The Grand Tour.
The latest Grand Tour was so bad I can only presume they were meant to film in France - as it was all about French cars. Then Covid scotched it at the last minute and they had to rescript it and shoot it in random parts of Wales, odd bits of southern England, etc
It made no sense, therefore, and it was lamentable. Unfunny and incoherent. I do detect the dead hand of corona
I hope it means we see more Clarkson's farm, now that was great, especially during the pandemic.
The Mandalorin without a baby yoda spin off series is rather disappointing...
Agree, nearly as tedious as the latest special from The Grand Tour.
The latest Grand Tour was so bad I can only presume they were meant to film in France - as it was all about French cars. Then Covid scotched it at the last minute and they had to rescript it and shoot it in random parts of Wales, odd bits of southern England, etc
It made no sense, therefore, and it was lamentable. Unfunny and incoherent. I do detect the dead hand of corona
I hope it means we see more Clarkson's farm, now that was great, especially during the pandemic.
I'm so looking forward to the removal of every book from every school and watching the teachers try and teach from nothing.
Isn't the money coming from the schools themselves? (Unless US high schools are very different from UK ones.)
"Parents believing a book violates the bill may demand school officials remove it within 30 days. If the book is not removed during this time, the school employee tasked with getting rid of it will be terminated —subject to due process— and prohibited from working at another school for at least two years
Parents may then seek “monetary damages,” according to the bill, including a minimum of $10,000 for each day the challenged book is not removed."
Incidental admissions, I've heard that excuse before.
I am very worried.
It is not an excuse
The fact someone goes into hospital as a result of a car accident or other non covid medical emergency and then tests positive for omicron is relevant to someone who is admitted with omicron and is seriously ill because of it
Furthermore as we know London has a real problem with the unvaccinated and it is another statistic that is important in considering the present state of the pandemic
You do need to try to be less panic struck and look for the positives
The Mandalorin without a baby yoda spin off series is rather disappointing...
Agree, nearly as tedious as the latest special from The Grand Tour.
The latest Grand Tour was so bad I can only presume they were meant to film in France - as it was all about French cars. Then Covid scotched it at the last minute and they had to rescript it and shoot it in random parts of Wales, odd bits of southern England, etc
It made no sense, therefore, and it was lamentable. Unfunny and incoherent. I do detect the dead hand of corona
I hope it means we see more Clarkson's farm, now that was great, especially during the pandemic.
They should have done a Christmas special.
How can you do a second series of Clarkson's Farm that will be anywhere near as good as the first?
I'm glad they are making a new season (apparently), but my guess is it won't be a patch on the original
The glory of the first season was Clarkson genuinely doing something hard, worthwhile and desirable and understandably getting it all wrong (because it is seriously difficult)
And of course all the characters were new and splendid, from Caleb to Gerald to the hot but bored Irish wife
Local bookseller on a book which wasn't even in the school library (except as an ebook):
'“It was not easy to find a box full of 33 Snowfish, but we did,” he continues. “We sold all that we bought, and we kept a couple as loaners because we wanted to make sure any students in the community could see what the fuss was about. There will always be some around.”
It’s now easier than ever to read 33 Snowfish in Spotsylvania county [...]'
Not quite but not far off. You really need to go to a proper running shop so that someone who knows what to look for can identify the appropriate style of shoe for your running style and your feet.
I would personally be wary of reading too much into case numbers right now. For a start, there's a lot of catch up in there. Secondly, most people will have taken LFTs before seeing relatives on Christmas Day. Negative tests will be discarded. Positive ones will (often) be recorded.
Yes, Omicron is growing (in the UK as elsewhere), but it probably isn't exploding quite to the levels shown in these numbers.
I'm so looking forward to the removal of every book from every school and watching the teachers try and teach from nothing.
Isn't the money coming from the schools themselves? (Unless US high schools are very different from UK ones.)
"Parents believing a book violates the bill may demand school officials remove it within 30 days. If the book is not removed during this time, the school employee tasked with getting rid of it will be terminated —subject to due process— and prohibited from working at another school for at least two years
Parents may then seek “monetary damages,” according to the bill, including a minimum of $10,000 for each day the challenged book is not removed."
Oh how I wish I could have asked my parents to challenge Return of the Native during A- level! The alternative was Wuthering Heights, one of the finest tales.
The Mandalorin without a baby yoda spin off series is rather disappointing...
Agree, nearly as tedious as the latest special from The Grand Tour.
The latest Grand Tour was so bad I can only presume they were meant to film in France - as it was all about French cars. Then Covid scotched it at the last minute and they had to rescript it and shoot it in random parts of Wales, odd bits of southern England, etc
It made no sense, therefore, and it was lamentable. Unfunny and incoherent. I do detect the dead hand of corona
I hope it means we see more Clarkson's farm, now that was great, especially during the pandemic.
They should have done a Christmas special.
How can you do a second series of Clarkson's Farm that will be anywhere near as good as the first?
I'm glad they are making a new season (apparently), but my guess is it won't be a patch on the original
The glory of the first season was Clarkson genuinely doing something hard, worthwhile and desirable and understandably getting it all wrong (because it is seriously difficult)
And of course all the characters were new and splendid, from Caleb to Gerald to the hot but bored Irish wife
Local bookseller on a book which wasn't even in the school library (except as an ebook):
'“It was not easy to find a box full of 33 Snowfish, but we did,” he continues. “We sold all that we bought, and we kept a couple as loaners because we wanted to make sure any students in the community could see what the fuss was about. There will always be some around.”
It’s now easier than ever to read 33 Snowfish in Spotsylvania county [...]'
Oh it's publicity gold to an author when their book is banned - it wouldn't surprise me if agents sought to get their author's books banned just for the publicity it generates.
That is concerning. However deaths have not taken off at all - yet.
It will be *interesting* to see the ICU stats
Numbers requiring ventilation not going anywhere. Points to lots of incidental admissions.
We could do with the figure for oxygenated as South Africa have previously provided.
I simply can't envisage a scenario comparable to last year now. The only question is whether the battered health service can cope with a small spike. If it creaks we should be asking questions of ourselves.
I'm so looking forward to the removal of every book from every school and watching the teachers try and teach from nothing.
Isn't the money coming from the schools themselves? (Unless US high schools are very different from UK ones.)
"Parents believing a book violates the bill may demand school officials remove it within 30 days. If the book is not removed during this time, the school employee tasked with getting rid of it will be terminated —subject to due process— and prohibited from working at another school for at least two years
Parents may then seek “monetary damages,” according to the bill, including a minimum of $10,000 for each day the challenged book is not removed."
Oh how I wish I could have asked my parents to challenge Return of the Native during A- level! The alternative was Wuthering Heights, one of the finest tales.
I am from the north of Italy and many of you will remember how our area was deeply hit at the beginning. I did my part joining the frontline (at the time I was assigned to surgery) without any protection, I recall putting trash bags over my uniform, 3 surgical mask on top of each other and accessing those rooms full of pronated people with chin lesions hooked to ventilators I've never even saw during nursing school. People confused and gasping from the lack of O2, people allucinating with burning fever, people without proper ventilation because there where simply no more machines.
At the time I had already seen my share of deaths on duty since I graduated a few years ago, but there was something hunting in watching a person suffocating, eyes rotating and all, without being able to help them. It was excruciating, but those people never had a choice, they were infected in a time when we didn't know much nor we had the instruments we have now, so there was just sadness for their situation in my heart and the best I could do for them was providing the best care I was capable of, every day at 101% and I always went back home exhausted but I knew I made my part in trying to make those people less miserable and maybe contributing in saving a few of them.
As many of us who were deeply affected and risked for months without proper gear, I got some professional help to cope with so much death.
But now things have changed. Now most of ICU patients are Unvaxxed people who will literally try to rip your gear off when you approach them with a syringe (insuline syringe, cortisonic drugs are heavily used to try to keep the inflammation under control but will increase your sugar blood level) because they fear you will inoculate them with the vaccine. I am talking about barely alive people chained to 6 iv pumps with heavy drugs, a ventilator, with a catheter in every hole. But still they will spit on you, calling you a "government sheep" for trying to keep them alive. Keeping on all the gear you guys largely saw on TV for hours and hours to provide care to those people is making me consider to quit my job and never hear of an hospital again, expecially because they are yeeting themself into coffins but they obviously still cause societal harm and this is always in the back of my mind when providing care to them. They had a choice, they had time, they choose to not to be vaccinated, they are using hospitals funds and being generally horrible with the staff, while on the first wave people were grateful at us trying to give them some dignity, and covid caregiving wasn't as developed as now so it's a paradox but Unvaxxed people have also better care than those who were hit and died with the first wave because now hospitals are equipped and staff is far more experienced in the matter.
Do you have any advice to try to cope with those people? Sorry for any typo I've might have written, I am on my phone.
I would personally be wary of reading too much into case numbers right now. For a start, there's a lot of catch up in there. Secondly, most people will have taken LFTs before seeing relatives on Christmas Day. Negative tests will be discarded. Positive ones will (often) be recorded.
Yes, Omicron is growing (in the UK as elsewhere), but it probably isn't exploding quite to the levels shown in these numbers.
Yes, it's actually less than I expected for the first day back from Christmas. I think numbers on Friday will be the worst as it will backfill today which is the first non-bank holiday and loads will have put off their PCR tests to avoid ruining a long weekend.
I'm going to await the first and second week of January data to call a peak, simply there's just going to be fewer people testing right now for fear of ruining their time off.
No sh!t, Sherlock. How many copies of Spy Catcher were sold on cross-channel ferries and in Calais in the ‘90s, with the book stands describing it “The Book That’s Banned In Britain”?
I would personally be wary of reading too much into case numbers right now. For a start, there's a lot of catch up in there. Secondly, most people will have taken LFTs before seeing relatives on Christmas Day. Negative tests will be discarded. Positive ones will (often) be recorded.
Yes, Omicron is growing (in the UK as elsewhere), but it probably isn't exploding quite to the levels shown in these numbers.
Absolutely. Saw a few people today. Several of whose relatives felt fine but took PCR tests before going to see granny just to be sure and tested positive.
- Cases still rising, though R has fallen back. R among the older groups is more prominent through
London's big R excursion, among the younger groups, seems to have collapsed. But cases are still rising in the older groups, there.
- Admissions are rising quite rapidly, following the increase in cases among the older groups - Deaths have lots of reporting delay still. Hard to say what is happening there, except that there will be a big fill in day for data at some point.
Comments
By the way, I do not deny that the whole apparatus of probability theory is productive. Just how you interpret it is the issue. Perhaps that's what Einstein meant when he said "God does not play dice" (he was not religious).
Some were worried about it permitting recombination between viral strains which would give new permutations of mutations. Or is this my memory? (Also reassortment of whole genes if relevant to covid.)
The other issue would be the possibility of virus evolution under limited immune system pressure allowing escape to new variants, like the effect of incomplete antibiotic courses allowing analogous evolution in bacteria of antibiotic resistance. But again I have not kept up with this.
In the long term.
But then what we need to do is increase QoL for those who live longer.
1) How much did you earn?
2) When will you send it all to us?
By a distance their biggest day ever
I found John O'loony within a few seconds on google - he lives rather close to today's insanity...
I don't think that's true. While it's certainly possible, it's equally likely they came from animals - particularly domesticated ones.
I think it's probably fair to say that "One or more of them may have begun in the human population as a pandemic with high mortality."
https://twitter.com/Shayan86/status/1475452111777370114
I've caught a few bare-faced lies, and even told one or two.
https://youtu.be/KxtGJsnLgSc
Do you not have accountants and financial advisers to do that for you?
183,000 cases
57 deaths
1213 admits
In general, it seems intuitively correct that a novel respiratory virus will always spell trouble for vulnerable people who've never been exposed to it before and will not have any level of pre-existing immunity, so I would assume that every endemic respiratory virus in circulation was at one time responsible for a lot of deaths.
https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/diversity-inclusion/587517-oklahoma-lawmaker-introduces-book-banning-bill
I'm so looking forward to the removal of every book from every school and watching the teachers try and teach from nothing.
Absolute legend.
https://twitter.com/LBCNews/status/1476252886036320257
It will be *interesting* to see the ICU stats
Boosters reported today: 325,087
Highest Boosters to date: 968,665 (22/12)
Nearest estimate: @Northern_Al 963,451
Next nearest: @MattW (986,000)
A good ‘flu season is a couple of hundred a day, dying of the ‘flu.
It made no sense, therefore, and it was lamentable. Unfunny and incoherent. I do detect the dead hand of corona
Drag out to an hour driving some Christmas trees from Wales to Bath......that was the "special".
Great way to avoid those tax returns.
For example I find that those pizza delivery leaflets become super interesting just before I am about to go for a run.
I am very worried.
https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/european-commission-vice-president-maros-sefcovic-london-has-breached-a-great-deal-of-trust-a-7ef3306b-5ebd-4366-9d55-c8cdf779d6e2
"Parents believing a book violates the bill may demand school officials remove it within 30 days. If the book is not removed during this time, the school employee tasked with getting rid of it will be terminated —subject to due process— and prohibited from working at another school for at least two years
Parents may then seek “monetary damages,” according to the bill, including a minimum of $10,000 for each day the challenged book is not removed."
.325,087 booster vaccinations in 🇬🇧 yesterday
🏴 258,399
🏴 24,851
🏴 34,060
NI 7,777
The fact someone goes into hospital as a result of a car accident or other non covid medical emergency and then tests positive for omicron is relevant to someone who is admitted with omicron and is seriously ill because of it
Furthermore as we know London has a real problem with the unvaccinated and it is another statistic that is important in considering the present state of the pandemic
You do need to try to be less panic struck and look for the positives
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/education/2021/dec/23/us-book-bans-conservative-parents-reading
I'm glad they are making a new season (apparently), but my guess is it won't be a patch on the original
The glory of the first season was Clarkson genuinely doing something hard, worthwhile and desirable and understandably getting it all wrong (because it is seriously difficult)
And of course all the characters were new and splendid, from Caleb to Gerald to the hot but bored Irish wife
Supremely hard to pull it off again
Lots of reporting delay
...of covid.
Who would have thunk it could happen?
'“It was not easy to find a box full of 33 Snowfish, but we did,” he continues. “We sold all that we bought, and we kept a couple as loaners because we wanted to make sure any students in the community could see what the fuss was about. There will always be some around.”
It’s now easier than ever to read 33 Snowfish in Spotsylvania county [...]'
Yes, Omicron is growing (in the UK as elsewhere), but it probably isn't exploding quite to the levels shown in these numbers.
The alternative was Wuthering Heights, one of the finest tales.
But yes.
I simply can't envisage a scenario comparable to last year now. The only question is whether the battered health service can cope with a small spike. If it creaks we should be asking questions of ourselves.
I am from the north of Italy and many of you will remember how our area was deeply hit at the beginning. I did my part joining the frontline (at the time I was assigned to surgery) without any protection, I recall putting trash bags over my uniform, 3 surgical mask on top of each other and accessing those rooms full of pronated people with chin lesions hooked to ventilators I've never even saw during nursing school. People confused and gasping from the lack of O2, people allucinating with burning fever, people without proper ventilation because there where simply no more machines.
At the time I had already seen my share of deaths on duty since I graduated a few years ago, but there was something hunting in watching a person suffocating, eyes rotating and all, without being able to help them. It was excruciating, but those people never had a choice, they were infected in a time when we didn't know much nor we had the instruments we have now, so there was just sadness for their situation in my heart and the best I could do for them was providing the best care I was capable of, every day at 101% and I always went back home exhausted but I knew I made my part in trying to make those people less miserable and maybe contributing in saving a few of them.
As many of us who were deeply affected and risked for months without proper gear, I got some professional help to cope with so much death.
But now things have changed. Now most of ICU patients are Unvaxxed people who will literally try to rip your gear off when you approach them with a syringe (insuline syringe, cortisonic drugs are heavily used to try to keep the inflammation under control but will increase your sugar blood level) because they fear you will inoculate them with the vaccine. I am talking about barely alive people chained to 6 iv pumps with heavy drugs, a ventilator, with a catheter in every hole. But still they will spit on you, calling you a "government sheep" for trying to keep them alive. Keeping on all the gear you guys largely saw on TV for hours and hours to provide care to those people is making me consider to quit my job and never hear of an hospital again, expecially because they are yeeting themself into coffins but they obviously still cause societal harm and this is always in the back of my mind when providing care to them. They had a choice, they had time, they choose to not to be vaccinated, they are using hospitals funds and being generally horrible with the staff, while on the first wave people were grateful at us trying to give them some dignity, and covid caregiving wasn't as developed as now so it's a paradox but Unvaxxed people have also better care than those who were hit and died with the first wave because now hospitals are equipped and staff is far more experienced in the matter.
Do you have any advice to try to cope with those people? Sorry for any typo I've might have written, I am on my phone.
I'm going to await the first and second week of January data to call a peak, simply there's just going to be fewer people testing right now for fear of ruining their time off.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50997271/foriegn-super-spreaders-responsible-for-at-least-250-omicron-cases-in-thailand-as-total-new-variant-cases-surge-to-740/
- Cases still rising, though R has fallen back. R among the older groups is more prominent through
London's big R excursion, among the younger groups, seems to have collapsed. But cases are still rising in the older groups, there.
- Admissions are rising quite rapidly, following the increase in cases among the older groups
- Deaths have lots of reporting delay still. Hard to say what is happening there, except that there will be a big fill in day for data at some point.
Except they're worse; they're like people leading other people away from the fire exits in a burning theatre.