The coronavirus

Halifax2TheMax

Sure, go out and about your everyday business, open everything up, live normally. Its all a hoax folks, nothing to worry about. Death counts are inflated, No worse than the flu. Wear more masks or more efficient ones? Why? 

CAPE TOWN — South Africa was already one of the countries worst hit by the coronavirus, but in the six weeks since a new, more transmissible variant was first publicly announced here, an enormous spike of new cases and deaths has far surpassed previous waves of the pandemic.

The vari“Of the cases we’ve [DNA-]sequenced in South Africa, more than 90 percent are the new variant,” said Richard Lessells, a lead researcher at the KwaZulu-Natal Research and Innovation Sequencing Platform, or KRISP, which has played a pathbreaking role in identifying coronavirus variants in South Africa and elsewhere. “It’s amazing and terrifying how quickly it came to dominate, and it does feel like we’re in the beginning stages of watching this variant, and the other new ones, become more dominant around the world.”

South African studies have also documented dozens of instances of people who contracted earlier strains of the coronavirus being infected with the new variant, suggesting that those who had contracted mild cases or otherwise had low antibody counts might be prone to reinfection.

In South Africa, despite a return to a stricter lockdown and curfew, many hospitals are overwhelmed, especially in Eastern Cape, which has become the epicenter of the new variant’s spread. Harrowing statistics released this week by the South African Medical Research Council show excess mortality numbers shooting nearly straight up in all of the country’s nine provinces.

“Ambulances and family members have said they would drive from hospital to hospital for up to six hours looking for a spot to get some oxygen,” said Imtiaz Sooliman, founder of one of South Africa’s biggest charity organizations, Gift of the Givers, which has been helping distribute oxygen machines. “Doctors will tell you that people died in cars while waiting to be admitted to the casualty ward, or they died in casualty before they could be seen.”

Phumla Mnyanda, who runs a 260-bed hospital in Eastern Cape’s capital, Bhisho, said social media posts had spread misinformation on ways to avoid hospitals where people were dying, keeping an even greater number of people from coming in when they first felt symptoms. But as patients neared death, families would rush them to the hospital only to find that little could be done to save their relatives.

“They were coming too late and by then their oxygen levels are very low, and you saw it dropping and dropping, and there is nothing we could do,” she said in a telephone interview. “People are so scared because there are so many that have died.”

The SAMRC’s excess mortality figures indicate that more than 110,000 have likely died of covid-19 in South Africa since May, even though the official toll is just above 41,000. More than 30,000 excess deaths have been recorded in January alone.

If most of these excess deaths can be attributed to covid-19, which most South African experts believe they can, then the country’s death toll would be the highest as a proportion of its population in the world.

Debbie Bradshaw, a researcher at SAMRC, said that although South Africa generally had a good reputation of registering most deaths, those that took place outside hospitals often went undiagnosed and thus escaped the official toll.

“We think that most of the confirmed covid deaths are really only being reported from hospitals, whereas there are many who leave hospitals before death or never make it to the hospitals in the first place,” she said.

Despite potentially being the cause of tens of thousands of deaths, the South African variant has been sequenced by researchers fewer than 700 times. The British variant, on the other hand, has been sequenced almost 30,000 times. Nearly 80 percent of the South African variant sequences have been found in South Africa and another 10 percent in Britain.

Thirty other countries make up the remainder, but Lessells at KRISP said it was likely the variant was circulating much more widely, especially in African countries with closer economic ties to South Africa but where sequencing capacity is limited or nonexistent.

South Africa’s land borders have been closed to nonessential travel, but a long list of exceptions means thousands of people still cross them every week. They also remained open through the December holidays, when many migrant workers returned to their home countries on leave.

Some of those neighboring or nearby southern African countries, such as Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique and Malawi, have seen soaring case numbers after months of relative calm.

Lessells said his lab was expecting to release sequences from samples taken from neighboring Mozambique this week.

“We’re engaged in a huge amount of collaborative science with partners around the world trying to understand what caused their rise,” he said.

The consensus, he said, is that it’s no coincidence that new variants emerged in South Africa, Britain and Brazil, which suffered some of the world’s biggest initial waves of the virus. It was likely that in places where the virus was running into large numbers of people who already had antibodies that it mutated to more easily find new hosts.

“Our failures to clamp down on community spread, wherever they may be, will almost certainly lead to even more new variants,” Lessells said.

South African variant dominates as deaths soar - The Washington Post

josevolution

mfc2006 said:

I talked to my Mom earlier today. She’s 78 and a cancer survivor of 4 years. Her health hasn’t been great since her treatments.

She broke down over the phone. Weeping uncontrollably because she has no idea when she will receive the vaccine. Her state (KS) and mine (MO) are doing a terrible job of providing the public with basic vaccine information. She’s terrified and lonely and it simply breaks my heart. 

So sorry to hear it totally sucks, my parents are both elderly and have to also wait for vaccine but I do believe we are on the right track now! We just have to hang on and don’t let our guard down, stay safe..

lastexitlondon

These variants are ruining all the good work done over a year now. Its utterly heartbreaking our kids are all mentally  suffering beyond any other time they  will ever know.
All we are doing is talking  each kid around each day to keep going. Our kids are young adults mainly and the toll on them is awful to see. 
There will be hope but not right now. Not here 

Spunkie

I'm so proud of you to take the kids out of class. Sorry it's so rough there. It's hard to imagine. The variants aren't due to explode in Ontario until March. BC is not half as rough as there, so maybe April/May for us here? I sure hope we have the bonus seasonality effect by then because the vaccine isn't looking too good for us, judging from the shitshow so far.

lastexitlondon

God it feels so bleak right now here. Ive been pro vaccine  the  whole way . It is the  only real way out but im scared for my mum and my elderly family most. Time as you say tish is slow and virus is faster than ever when these faster spread ones take a real hold in usa lets say ,like south Africa  its going  to hurt so bad. 
I know im a negative  person but fuck all we are seeing  here is strain on every single resource and we are in a full lockdown. You see it takes a while to get this bad and i cant help think. Our PM knew in sept about this kent variant  and yet again left it boiling and encouraged  people to get together  on xmas day. Fucks me up.
  The new novavax vaccine looks good agains all strains. So thats a positive .

23scidoo

Paris, France..students waiting for food..

https://twitter.com/i/status/1354867560391593986

23scidoo

Maybe in a month they ask you for this..

https://www.esquiremag.ph/life/health-and-fitness/covid-butt-test-a2549-20210128

lastexitlondon

I saw about these in China. Good way of testing  someone is clear of the disease  . Ace2 receptors are in the intestinal  lining too so makes sence

Meltdown99

The numbers are in: Canada’s COVID-fighting efforts are among world’s worst

https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/the-numbers-are-in-canadas-covid-fighting-efforts-are-among-worlds-worst/

PJNB

Some great news out with J&J's vaccine.

lastexitlondon

Wow

PJNB

lastexitlondon said:

Wow

Single shot too. Hopefully a game changer once it is rolled out. They are still testing to see how much a booster would raise the numbers. 

mfc2006

Some good news...

My sister and I called my Mom’s doctors and nurses several times over the last couple of days to check on when she’d be able to receive the vaccine. Well, she got the call last night and is getting her first shot later today!! To say that I’m relieved is an understatement. Thank you all for your pm’s and posts of support and encouragement. It really means a lot. Sending love and hope to you all. Be well & stay safe.

PJNB

mfc2006 said:

Some good news...

My sister and I called my Mom’s doctors and nurses several times over the last couple of days to check on when she’d be able to receive the vaccine. Well, she got the call last night and is getting her first shot later today!! To say that I’m relieved is an understatement. Thank you all for your pm’s and posts of support and encouragement. It really means a lot. Sending love and hope to you all. Be well & stay safe.

Glad to hear! 

Poncier

mfc2006 said:

Some good news...

My sister and I called my Mom’s doctors and nurses several times over the last couple of days to check on when she’d be able to receive the vaccine. Well, she got the call last night and is getting her first shot later today!! To say that I’m relieved is an understatement. Thank you all for your pm’s and posts of support and encouragement. It really means a lot. Sending love and hope to you all. Be well & stay safe.

Great news.

F Me In The Brain

Great news!

23scidoo

https://people.com/tv/larry-king-widow-shawn-says-he-beat-covid-but-died-from-sepsis-infection/

Hobbes

Good thinking.
Health Workers, Stuck in the Snow, Administer Coronavirus Vaccine to Stranded Drivers - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

HughFreakingDillon

Hobbes said:

Good thinking.
Health Workers, Stuck in the Snow, Administer Coronavirus Vaccine to Stranded Drivers - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

i can't read the article (paywall). I agree it's a great idea in theory, but if they were stuck out there, what would they have done in the situation of one of the recipients experiencing an adverse event?

FiveBelow

mfc2006 said:

Some good news...

My sister and I called my Mom’s doctors and nurses several times over the last couple of days to check on when she’d be able to receive the vaccine. Well, she got the call last night and is getting her first shot later today!! To say that I’m relieved is an understatement. Thank you all for your pm’s and posts of support and encouragement. It really means a lot. Sending love and hope to you all. Be well & stay safe.

Very cool, hope this brings some relief to you and your family.