Current Affairs Coronavirus Thread - Serious stuff !!!
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Black Belt Jones
Player Valuation: £25m
PCR test is the proper test and is extremely reliable - are you confusing it with the lateral flow tests you do at home?
Those are reasonably reliable - good in terms of specificity (false positives), if you see the covid line then it's 99%+ certain you have it. Sensitivity (false negatives) is not quite as high - you can test negative and still have the virus, I'm not sure what the error is (it will have been quantified now given such massive testing data).
WASHINGTON: Top US scientist Anthony Fauci said Tuesday (Dec 7) early indications suggested the COVID-19 Omicron variant was not worse than prior strains, and was possibly milder, while cautioning it would take weeks to judge its severity. Speaking to AFP, President Joe Biden's chief medical advisor broke down the knowns and unknowns about Omicron into three major areas: transmissibility, how well it evades immunity from prior infection and vaccines, and severity of illness.
The new variant is "clearly highly transmissible," very likely more so than Delta, the current dominant global strain, Fauci said.
Accumulating epidemiological data from around the world also indicates re-infections are higher with Omicron.
Fauci, the long-time director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said results from lab experiments that tested the potency of antibodies from current vaccines against Omicron should come in the "next few days to a week".
On the question of severity, "it almost certainly is not more severe than Delta," said Fauci. "There is some suggestion that it might even be less severe, because when you look at some of the cohorts that are being followed in South Africa, the ratio between the number of infections and the number of hospitalisations seems to be less than with Delta."
But he noted it was important to not over-interpret this data because the populations being followed skewed young and were less likely to become hospitalised. Severe disease can also take weeks to develop. "I think that's going to take another couple of weeks at least" to confirm in South Africa, where the variant was first reported in November, he said. "Then as we get more infections throughout the rest of the world, it might take longer to see what's the level of severity."
Fauci said a more transmissible virus that doesn't cause more severe illness and doesn't lead to a surge of hospitalisations and deaths was the "best-case scenario". "The worst-case scenario is that it is not only highly transmissible, but it also causes severe disease and then you have another wave of infections that are not necessarily blunted by the vaccine or by people's prior infections," he added. "I don't think that worst-case scenario is going to come about, but you never know."
The new variant is "clearly highly transmissible," very likely more so than Delta, the current dominant global strain, Fauci said.
Accumulating epidemiological data from around the world also indicates re-infections are higher with Omicron.
Fauci, the long-time director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said results from lab experiments that tested the potency of antibodies from current vaccines against Omicron should come in the "next few days to a week".
On the question of severity, "it almost certainly is not more severe than Delta," said Fauci. "There is some suggestion that it might even be less severe, because when you look at some of the cohorts that are being followed in South Africa, the ratio between the number of infections and the number of hospitalisations seems to be less than with Delta."
But he noted it was important to not over-interpret this data because the populations being followed skewed young and were less likely to become hospitalised. Severe disease can also take weeks to develop. "I think that's going to take another couple of weeks at least" to confirm in South Africa, where the variant was first reported in November, he said. "Then as we get more infections throughout the rest of the world, it might take longer to see what's the level of severity."
Fauci said a more transmissible virus that doesn't cause more severe illness and doesn't lead to a surge of hospitalisations and deaths was the "best-case scenario". "The worst-case scenario is that it is not only highly transmissible, but it also causes severe disease and then you have another wave of infections that are not necessarily blunted by the vaccine or by people's prior infections," he added. "I don't think that worst-case scenario is going to come about, but you never know."
tbf there's plenty of evidence of incorrect PCRs too, both ways
You are explicitly told (in the UK) not to get a PCR if you've had covid within a certain amount of time previous as the tests can still pick it up. So there could have been plenty of cases of that happening and people having never known they had COVID when they actually had it
Billy Dean
Player Valuation: £70m
So the lockdown fanatics aren’t worth listening to, that’s good to know and also obvious.
Meant to be going to Lisbon on the 28th with my parents but we’re debating backing out since it’s gone ‘state of calamity’ out there now. Lose the flight money but the holiday just doesn’t feel like it’ll be fun now.
What the hell hahahahaha
Haha, I know, mad name isn’t it.
grandjoeblue
Player Valuation: £35m
Booking anything outside of July - September at the moment seems really risky. You just never know what's coming.
Yeh we booked it around June just in case it was green. I mean we can still of course go just don’t know how much we’ll enjoy it.
grandjoeblue
Player Valuation: £35m
Suppose it depends on what's open really. I've been away a few times this year and once you get out of the airport on their side its fine.
Well I think most is open but it’s masks absolutely everywhere indoors and some outdoor events, you need proof of vaccination and a proof of negative, some of the smaller local bars are shut etc. Just sounds more faff than a nice breather.
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