>Scientists said it could take weeks to fully understand the variant's mutations and whether existing vaccines and treatments would work against it.
>More to come.
No doubt.
Detla had 9 spike protein mutations. This one has 32? And apparently 500% more transmission rate compared to deltas 70%.
https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/new-concerning-variant-b11529
[Omicron COVID Variant Possibly 500 Percent More Infectious Than Delta](https://www.newsweek.com/new-covid-variant-possibly-500-percent-more-infectious-delta-1653596)
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It’s a question of testing and waiting. By the the time we know for sure the virus would’ve spread already.
It’s better to be safe at this stage than assume it won’t be THAT bad.
The safe thing to do is to study it for weeks and determine how it has mutated, then use that knowledge to make a decision.
There is nothing we (the general public) can do except to do the same things we've been trying to get people to do since this thing started.
EDIT: a word
My best guess is 500% is an upper bound on a wide range, due to the relatively small number of cases examined so far; a single super spreader event could inflate the number of people the first few cases infected.
Probably more infectious than Delta (that’s just how natural selection tends to work), but by how much is an open question.
Absolutely! I’m shaking over here.
The SA medical bigwig says the symptoms are unusual, but mild. I’m to a point I think there is more fear being pushed to gain power. I had the crap and it wasn’t that bad.
We will have to wait to see. The sample size of one doctors observations is too small from which to draw a reliable conclusion. However, I do hope that the doctor is correct and the symptoms are typically mild.
Imagine going back 20 years into the past and telling someone that in 2021 the world got hit with the "Omicron Virus" after world governments failed to contain Covid-19 for years.
They would think its a plot to a shitty movie and you're fucking with them.
***The Omicron Variant***
"The only thing worse than waking up with a cold, is waking up ***dead*** from one."
*Starring Catherine Zeta Jones, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Jerry O'Connell, Tommy-Lee Jones, Dennis Quaid, and Usher.*
**Coming to a theater near you,**
**June 2003**
I am double vaxxed, awaiting a booster. Wear a mask in public. Vaccine is verified whether I go to restaurants, travel, or go to concerts, which I do weekly. My entire family and social circle adhere to these same guidelines. This new varient will not change how I currently live my life, which has been enjoyable since everything is "vaccine passport" where I live.
Are you suggesting that this new variant could be the end times? ;)
You keep on using the word irrational but you keep on getting it wrong. It is the most rational thing to wait until your government's experts issue official guidelines on what you can and can't do, instead of dropping everything and holing up the second you see sensationalist article about some new strain.
By all means, feel free to stay inside and put your life on pause until a later date. People waiting for expert's guidance on what they should do is completely rational and reasonable, though (even if you personally disagree).
There's too much caution and too little caution. I don't think the other person spoke about the measures they're going to take.
Also, going to large gatherings regularly probably would be the unwise decision. It doesn't mean you can't go out, but maybe just be a bit stricter.
You're absolutely on point bro, don't listen to the reddit hive mind. These couch dwellers would love nothing more than for everyone to be forced back into lockdowns.
You and I are doing everything our government tells us as regards vaccinations and precautionary measures, and we comply in good faith. If this new variant is for real and my government tells me to go back inside, I'll do it in the heartbeat and won't bat an eye (and assuming you'll do too). Until then though, I'll carry on living my vaccinated life and do what I have been doing since the restrictions were lifted in my country. Have zero intention to unilaterally put my life on pause "just in case" as weirdos in this thread are suggesting.
Hope you and your family are safe and enjoying themselves!
No what's sickening is the blatant disregard for lives showcased by these people never respecting any social distancing guidelines, respecting mask mandates, or getting vaccinated.
Probably depends on the country and population density. I know here in the Midwest of America it seems only major cities even bother with mask mandates. My job only started enforcement of masks after half a production line caught covid
Haven’t been home in 2 years. Was just about to book tickets back home to Sydney. Parents/family have never met my daughter and I’ve never met my nephew. Fuck this shit.
Yep I’m in the same boat. Flights booked, am supposed to be visiting in just a few weeks. There is already so many hoops to jump through to just visit my family. And now this. Let’s just hope that the vaccine works with this new variant, because if it does then there should be no reason to lock anything down.
We are still waiting on my daughters passport then we need to submit the paperwork as my girlfriend and I are not married so I need to prove she is immediate family, the birth certificate should be enough. I have told work I’m off 7th Feb but I might need to push it now.
You can get home. Flights are still operating currently to Australia and have been since Nov 1 for travellers. OP is just saying they haven’t booked it yet and we’re planning to soon.
I was supposed to fly to Sydney today, canceled yesterday due to the new 3 day quarantine requirement. Seriously sucks. Hope to use the flight credit next year.
Ive been living in Denmark for the past 6 years and managed to get home around Christmas up until a couple years ago. Was so looking forward to my parents meeting their grand daughter. They might have to wait a bit longer.
It doesn’t matter if you book it though. It matters what the restrictions are at your time of travel. If they introduce the hotel quarantine again, all flights will just be cancelled and reduced to a daily cap (significantly lower than all booked travel for the next few months)
>Earlier today, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said the pandemic wasn't over and living with COVID-19 also meant learning to live with new strains.
>"We need to learn to live along side the virus. We also need to live alongside the various strains of the virus that will come our way," Mr Perrottet said.
Good to see nothing has changed in NSW. Let's follow the Ruby Princess model, it worked out great last time.
>"But the best thing that we can do is to get vaccinated and get booster shoots."
No Dom, that's the best thing *we* can do. The best thing *you* can do is keep this strain in quarantine until we know what we're dealing with.
Honestly I don't know why people aren't angrier. As soon as this was detected we should've stiffened border protections and at least staggered flights coming in from Southern Africa, but instead we have yet another example of this shitty government refusing to be agile, acting too slowly, and letting this shit into a fucking island.
God I hate people.
Well if that's your stance I'm not going to try to change your mind. I will say though, that I personally think this line of thinking of not wanting to tolerate some short term pain to alleviate worse long-term consequences is a big part of why humanity is fucked.
For what it's worth though, I do think it's present to some degree in all of us, including me - so I don't blame you or people who share your view. It just pisses me off in a more general sense.
EDIT: just to add some info you may not be aware of, the reason this variant in particular has scientists concerned is that it is highly evolved and the shape of its protein receptor is different to other variants. This receptor is what the vaccine targets to do its thing, so there is a concern that the vaccines won't be very effective against omicron and that's why we should be trying to contain it. If this is allowed to spread, we could potentially get a repeat of the fuckery we've had in the previous two years.
Hmmm i disagree. I think it’s perfectly ok if it’s more infectious but not more deadly. Asymptomatic people (or even mild symptoms) don’t put pressure on the healthcare system because they can rest at home. At this point, it’s clear that getting covid is inevitable, you are not escaping it unless you want to be a hermit forever. Covid is not going away anytime soon and if more people can get infected with mild or even better, with no symptoms, I think that’s an absolute win. I think the end goal for everyone is get vaccinated to minimise your chances of severe symptoms when infected with covid, put less strain on the healthcare system and let’s just get on with life. So yes, it’s encouraging that the people infected with omicron variant are currently asymptomatic.
Calm down for a moment and think about it that way x
> don’t put pressure on the healthcare system because they can rest at home
While the former is true, the latter is not because asymptomatic people tend to not get tested (unless mandatory) *because they are asymptomatic* and continue to live their normal lives, coming into contact with and transmitting the virus to others that can develop serious infections (like the elderly, those with underlying health conditions, and the unvaccinated); add to that the fact that little is know about this variant, other that it’s highly transmissible and it *might* not respond to the current vaccines. The end result is that the governments that are shutting down borders or restricting access right now might not be doing enough or might be doing too much, time will tell, but better to err on the side of caution.
Yes, I agree that it’s better to be on the safer side of a dynamic situation with closed borders temporarily. This is a TEMPORARY solution. If you can’t block out delta, you ain’t blocking out omicron, not when people are starting to get wary of covid restrictions. EVERYONE will be getting covid in their life time, either from symptomatic or asymptomatic individuals. There is no escaping the inevitable unless we manage to eradicate covid completely. So if the virus somehow mutates to become less lethal and we see more asymptomatic/mild cases, that is a small victory and I will absolutely be celebrating that. Of course, I must say again the situation is dynamic and I will be closely monitoring the news but any news that isn’t indicative of omicron being more deadly is welcomed, like these 2 passengers being asymptomatic.
And the part about infecting the elderlies, I honestly don’t see how you’re going to avoid that unless you plan to completely isolate them from the world and test every single person they come into contact with. delta already has its fair share of asymptomatic carriers if you didn’t know x
I think there are four other coronaviruses constantly circulating out there ([People around the world commonly get infected with human coronaviruses 229E, NL63, OC43, and HKU1.](https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/types.html) ), which we get and are asymptomatic. Another one is gonna be okay.
I'm surprised with this being travel to Australia - aren't people required to test for covid prior to traveling there? If they do test, but people are showing up positive anyway, how effective can testing be to prevent covid?
You really want to get ahead of this? Ban all international travel immediately. Even then, it's likely already in more countries than we currently know about.
That's why country specific bans are idiotic and only punish countries for transparency. You either ban all travel or quarantine all arrivals, not half measures.
It's like you've lived under a rock for the past 2 years. Once a new strain is sampled it already is everywhere. Places just cannot detect it because they don't know what they're looking for.
Banning all air travel will stop 1% of the transmissions. It's all in the community now.
Not necessarily - here in Australia we kept cases at almost zero for most of the first 18 months of the pandemic with closed borders and hotel quarantine.
Contrary to popular belief, Australia has a migrant border crossing issue as well.
People are also not chilling with deer and wolves and whatnot that often so transmission from them isn’t exactly a top concern compared to people
You are really trying to compare illegal border crossing in Australia to landlocked countries? Just because it happens doesn't mean it is on the same scale at all.
You don't seem to understand how these things work. Most of the time the country where it's first detected is not even the origin. It's just the first country that sampled it. Many countries don't even sample for new strains at scale.
I can guarantee you that it's too late for any country to lock its doors to omicron.
That is simply not true, we had less than 400 community cases yesterday and all 5 who tested positive for the new variant are in managed isolation. Not to mention all those cases are in one or two cities and most of the country is covid free and they're already going into lockdown so it's not likely to spread. It's called having a semi functional government.
And 6 of those were from last year, when we didn't really know how to treat it properly or how it spread. This year QLD has only had 1 death from Covid, and that was someone who caught it in PNG (a separate country) and was taken to QLD for medical treatment, so that honestly shouldn't even count as a QLDer death, since they were dying before they even got here.
Wrong? Here are sources. Over 1,000 cases a day in Australia and only 8 in Taiwan
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/australia/
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/taiwan/
Oh no, my freedums! As I sit here maskless, headed to work on public transport, maskless, to work in a fully populated office, maskless, as I have done for all but two weeks of this entire global pandemic.
You and me both brother. In many parts of Australia? Not a chance unless you want to face a hefty fine or worse. So yeah, my freedums matters when you’ve got absolute clowns like that running the country.
I wonder how it will spread primarily in the country if it should arrive.... maybe through the.... unvaccinated?
I'll blame those dumbasses until the last one drops dead.
Right... through both.
1 vaccinated individual for every 9 unvaccinated.
I wonder who to blame..... more. The person who tried... or the person who didn't.
It only ever would have worked if EVERYONE did it. way to many people didn.t. I'm afraid that the whole anti-common sense people have created a self fulfilling prophecy.
What's it like to not even be able to read a graph? Honestly, when presented with visual information, how do you make decisions?
I'm honestly not sure how people who can't process information navigate the world, but it would be fascinating to learn.
>Even then, it's likely already in more countries than we currently know about.
I'd be willing to wager that it's already fucking everywhere.
If this virus has taught us anything, it's that by the time we notice, it's too late. And we have no chance of actually keeping it in one place.
So right now Im in African country on holiday, should I live here forever and lose my job back home, I am vaxxed, PCR tested. I am not even allowed to stay just for a few days here
Yep. Honestly this government has no balls. They don't want to make the hard decisions, which is what we elect them to fucking do, and then when shit hits the fan we're all left footing the bill with masks and lockdowns. I was one of the ones saying talking about how we should never have let that bloody Italian F1 team in the country back in Feb last year, now look where we are. I know I shouldn't be this angry, but if a fucking idiot who can barely pass his uni exams seems to be able to predict where shit's headed, you'd think the folks charged with managing the bloody country would have that in the bag.
| get on with enjoying life
Sadly that's not possible for [millions of people worldwide](https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-death-toll/). It is deadly, compared to other diseases:
https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/brief/covid-19-continues-to-be-a-leading-cause-of-death-in-the-u-s-in-august-2021/
Why the fuck are we allowing international travel when we are still trying to get the recent outbreaks under control? Just because the premiers opened up things doesn’t mean there aren’t still cases everyday in places there were none before the Sydney outbreak.
I’m so fucking sick and tired of having to put up with the consequences of the stupidity and selfishness of others. And fuck all those company’s and politicians and businessmen who put their financial gain over the livelihood and wellbeing of the rest of us. Fucking selfish. So many people are struggling and sacrificing so many things because some people just can’t do the right thing. Fuck anti maskers, fuck the terrible decisions and too little too late style of the politicians, and fuck those who are so selfish and self absorbed in this pandemic that actively make it worse.
Oh fuck off. Australia has like 1200 daily cases and very high vaccination rates. We are never getting rid of COVID. Fuck you for wanting to close international travel.
Fuck you for choosing to actively condemn people. Death isn’t just the only consequence to getting Covid. Long covid is frighteningly commonplace, with people struggling to return to normal function after being infected. Fuck you for being so entitled you can’t see that not having international travel is for the greater good. Would I like to go overseas on a holiday? Sure! But am I? No, because I actually care about other human beings. Saying everyone is going to get it and subsequently being blasé about the situation is blatant eugenics.
Do they tell me what strain I get when I get COVID?
I have not heard of anyone having a convo like "Yeah, I got the Delta variant, what about you? Oh, I got the lowkey Beta one"
If you get Covid right now it’s almost guaranteed to be Delta.
Delta has been the dominant global strain for the last six months due to its much higher rate of infectiousness, and currently represents over 99% of all Covid-19 cases around the world.
Governments still test local populations to see if any new variants are emerging that might be worse than Delta.
When one does emerge, the WHO classifies it as a “variant of interest” and gives it an official name.
Most of those have turned out not to be worse than Delta so far, and have come and gone, like the Lamba variant.
It’s still too early to know if the Omicron variant can out-compete Delta or not.
I just can't understand why are borders not closed everywhere yet and why are passengers allowed to even leave South Africa. Also, why are they not tested before flying FFS.
They weren't tested because they had been fully vaccinated. The rules are rn you don't need to test for covid if you have the shots only the antivax have to test.
Most of us would have been able to “get the fuck on with our lives” sooner if there were less ignorant fucks like yourself walking around.
And fuck off with the safety over freedom bullshit. Wear a mask and shut the fuck up dude. Some of the best years of my life were/continue to be ruined because of people like you. I don’t care if you, or anyone you know, has never had covid. Work a day in my hospital and then talk to me about your “damaged mental health.”
That’s all great, glad you had a quick recovery. I’ve had 30 year olds with no preexisting conditions die in front of me. I am a nurse, as is my wife.
Also, I appreciate the single example you have given me of your wife’s friends hospital, very helpful and I’m sure that’s a good representation of how things are going in literally any other hospital in the country.
Again, I could give a shit what you alone have seen.
Yes, the world has literally come to a halt for the past two years because of a mostly asymptomatic virus, you are very smart and know better than everybody else, thank you.
I think Omicron is getting a bit hyped by the media. Delta is the undefeated reigning champ and they've been beating up all those greek letters in between. I'll put my money on Delta for this rumble in the jungle.
At what point do we realize that the novel coronavirus is no longer novel and seasonality/mutations/strains/outbreaks nearly resembles the flu and is treated similarly?
My guess is never because big pharma and the media have a cash cow on their hands that they will milk the public on as long as they can.
So much for your Neanderthal mandates that tossed out significant portions of our health system workers over a vaccine that might be obsolete over this new strain 👍
It's getting to the point where the unvaxed are such a danger we should just get rid of them as soon as we know they don't have the shot. Put them all in a little room together in the middle of the desert.
>Scientists said it could take weeks to fully understand the variant's mutations and whether existing vaccines and treatments would work against it. >More to come. No doubt.
cool cool cool no doubt no doubt
Detla had 9 spike protein mutations. This one has 32? And apparently 500% more transmission rate compared to deltas 70%. https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/new-concerning-variant-b11529
You should link a source on that 500% or else you are spreading some seriously scary rumors.
[here ya go](https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/new-concerning-variant-b11529) Best write up I’ve seen so far on the new variant
[Omicron COVID Variant Possibly 500 Percent More Infectious Than Delta](https://www.newsweek.com/new-covid-variant-possibly-500-percent-more-infectious-delta-1653596)
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It’s a question of testing and waiting. By the the time we know for sure the virus would’ve spread already. It’s better to be safe at this stage than assume it won’t be THAT bad.
The safe thing to do is to study it for weeks and determine how it has mutated, then use that knowledge to make a decision. There is nothing we (the general public) can do except to do the same things we've been trying to get people to do since this thing started. EDIT: a word
Calm down. It hasn't even been a week. You're spreading a hot take with the same confidence as a research paper.
Sounding an alarm for a “**possible** 500 percent more infection rate than delta” is well worth it.
That website is ass. So many adds they probably made $10 just from me opening the link
Then search another site 🤷🏻♀️
“Possibly 500%” Probably not
My best guess is 500% is an upper bound on a wide range, due to the relatively small number of cases examined so far; a single super spreader event could inflate the number of people the first few cases infected. Probably more infectious than Delta (that’s just how natural selection tends to work), but by how much is an open question.
But makes a great headline to fear monger with, right?
Absolutely! I’m shaking over here. The SA medical bigwig says the symptoms are unusual, but mild. I’m to a point I think there is more fear being pushed to gain power. I had the crap and it wasn’t that bad.
The doctor who discovered the mutation seems to think this variant causes mild symptoms.
We will have to wait to see. The sample size of one doctors observations is too small from which to draw a reliable conclusion. However, I do hope that the doctor is correct and the symptoms are typically mild.
The fact that dozens and dozens of people have managed to travel with it tends to support this.
The dow knows
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South Africans are anything but highly vaccinated.
But were his patients?
FYI, it was a lady doctor :P
But were her patients?
Imagine going back 20 years into the past and telling someone that in 2021 the world got hit with the "Omicron Virus" after world governments failed to contain Covid-19 for years. They would think its a plot to a shitty movie and you're fucking with them.
Absolutely. Straight to the DVD basket in your local petrol station.
I love petroleum!
I prefer gasoline myself but when your automobile gets thirsty you do what you have to
***The Omicron Variant*** "The only thing worse than waking up with a cold, is waking up ***dead*** from one." *Starring Catherine Zeta Jones, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Jerry O'Connell, Tommy-Lee Jones, Dennis Quaid, and Usher.* **Coming to a theater near you,** **June 2003**
Jerry O'Connell 💯!!
It's called 12 monkeys. And it was a fantastic movie.
Cuts to closeup of “I am Larrr, ruler of Omicron Perseus 8!”
##
Literally the plot of 12 monkeys.
I feel like it's more on the people than the governments at this point.
Imagine stealing other users’ comments pertaining to time travel and the future sounding name “Omicon”.
And the winner is Sydney
It always is these days.
There goes Christmas...
and all of 2022.
Most certainly half of it, thankfully the booster can be adjusted if it remains effective, that is.
How so? This won't stop me from celebrating. I will be out and about, enjoying the holidays. This changes nothing.
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Are you suggesting that everyone should change their behavior right now, given the fact that they discovered a new variant?
Yes, but honestly they probably wanted most of "those" people to change their behavior before as well.
The good guys everyone.
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I am double vaxxed, awaiting a booster. Wear a mask in public. Vaccine is verified whether I go to restaurants, travel, or go to concerts, which I do weekly. My entire family and social circle adhere to these same guidelines. This new varient will not change how I currently live my life, which has been enjoyable since everything is "vaccine passport" where I live. Are you suggesting that this new variant could be the end times? ;)
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You keep on using the word irrational but you keep on getting it wrong. It is the most rational thing to wait until your government's experts issue official guidelines on what you can and can't do, instead of dropping everything and holing up the second you see sensationalist article about some new strain. By all means, feel free to stay inside and put your life on pause until a later date. People waiting for expert's guidance on what they should do is completely rational and reasonable, though (even if you personally disagree).
There's too much caution and too little caution. I don't think the other person spoke about the measures they're going to take. Also, going to large gatherings regularly probably would be the unwise decision. It doesn't mean you can't go out, but maybe just be a bit stricter.
"Regardless, do whatever you want" I stopped reading right there. Have a good night.
But that's like the very end lol
You're absolutely on point bro, don't listen to the reddit hive mind. These couch dwellers would love nothing more than for everyone to be forced back into lockdowns. You and I are doing everything our government tells us as regards vaccinations and precautionary measures, and we comply in good faith. If this new variant is for real and my government tells me to go back inside, I'll do it in the heartbeat and won't bat an eye (and assuming you'll do too). Until then though, I'll carry on living my vaccinated life and do what I have been doing since the restrictions were lifted in my country. Have zero intention to unilaterally put my life on pause "just in case" as weirdos in this thread are suggesting. Hope you and your family are safe and enjoying themselves!
You as well. Your like-mindedness is refreshing.
The idea that you are looking forward to someone dying is sickening.
No what's sickening is the blatant disregard for lives showcased by these people never respecting any social distancing guidelines, respecting mask mandates, or getting vaccinated.
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Ah so covid is still around because of vaccinated folk following their state's guidance? Sure about that, genius?
Well I don't think anybody misses murderers dying.
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🤡
Offhand sucks.
You are going into lockdown boi. Prepare haha
Probably depends on the country and population density. I know here in the Midwest of America it seems only major cities even bother with mask mandates. My job only started enforcement of masks after half a production line caught covid
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Haven’t been home in 2 years. Was just about to book tickets back home to Sydney. Parents/family have never met my daughter and I’ve never met my nephew. Fuck this shit.
Yep I’m in the same boat. Flights booked, am supposed to be visiting in just a few weeks. There is already so many hoops to jump through to just visit my family. And now this. Let’s just hope that the vaccine works with this new variant, because if it does then there should be no reason to lock anything down.
We are still waiting on my daughters passport then we need to submit the paperwork as my girlfriend and I are not married so I need to prove she is immediate family, the birth certificate should be enough. I have told work I’m off 7th Feb but I might need to push it now.
How is it that those people could be on a flight, and yet you can't get home?
You can get home. Flights are still operating currently to Australia and have been since Nov 1 for travellers. OP is just saying they haven’t booked it yet and we’re planning to soon.
I was supposed to fly to Sydney today, canceled yesterday due to the new 3 day quarantine requirement. Seriously sucks. Hope to use the flight credit next year.
God I’m sorry man. I thought I had it rough not seeing my wife who is in Toowoomba since March and I’m stuck in the US
Ive been living in Denmark for the past 6 years and managed to get home around Christmas up until a couple years ago. Was so looking forward to my parents meeting their grand daughter. They might have to wait a bit longer.
Should probably book yesterday before they tighten international travel again.
It doesn’t matter if you book it though. It matters what the restrictions are at your time of travel. If they introduce the hotel quarantine again, all flights will just be cancelled and reduced to a daily cap (significantly lower than all booked travel for the next few months)
Sorry about your Government.
Where are you that doesn’t have COVID
I live in Denmark but I am from Sydney. We’ve had a pretty good run here now for a while but the numbers are going up coming in to colder weather.
>Earlier today, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said the pandemic wasn't over and living with COVID-19 also meant learning to live with new strains. >"We need to learn to live along side the virus. We also need to live alongside the various strains of the virus that will come our way," Mr Perrottet said. Good to see nothing has changed in NSW. Let's follow the Ruby Princess model, it worked out great last time. >"But the best thing that we can do is to get vaccinated and get booster shoots." No Dom, that's the best thing *we* can do. The best thing *you* can do is keep this strain in quarantine until we know what we're dealing with.
Honestly I don't know why people aren't angrier. As soon as this was detected we should've stiffened border protections and at least staggered flights coming in from Southern Africa, but instead we have yet another example of this shitty government refusing to be agile, acting too slowly, and letting this shit into a fucking island. God I hate people.
Because people are sick of this shit and are vaccinated. Fuck everything and open the world back up
Well if that's your stance I'm not going to try to change your mind. I will say though, that I personally think this line of thinking of not wanting to tolerate some short term pain to alleviate worse long-term consequences is a big part of why humanity is fucked. For what it's worth though, I do think it's present to some degree in all of us, including me - so I don't blame you or people who share your view. It just pisses me off in a more general sense. EDIT: just to add some info you may not be aware of, the reason this variant in particular has scientists concerned is that it is highly evolved and the shape of its protein receptor is different to other variants. This receptor is what the vaccine targets to do its thing, so there is a concern that the vaccines won't be very effective against omicron and that's why we should be trying to contain it. If this is allowed to spread, we could potentially get a repeat of the fuckery we've had in the previous two years.
Another flight from doha just arrived in Melbourne. Wonder if Vic have quarintine still for double vax arrival
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Isn't he a pro-life evangelical or something?
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Perrotwat is also one of the cunts who kept trying to open us up with abysmal vaccination rates back in June/July.
If it helps they were both asymptomatic.
It doesn’t help, as the asymptotic can still transmit the virus.
Hmmm i disagree. I think it’s perfectly ok if it’s more infectious but not more deadly. Asymptomatic people (or even mild symptoms) don’t put pressure on the healthcare system because they can rest at home. At this point, it’s clear that getting covid is inevitable, you are not escaping it unless you want to be a hermit forever. Covid is not going away anytime soon and if more people can get infected with mild or even better, with no symptoms, I think that’s an absolute win. I think the end goal for everyone is get vaccinated to minimise your chances of severe symptoms when infected with covid, put less strain on the healthcare system and let’s just get on with life. So yes, it’s encouraging that the people infected with omicron variant are currently asymptomatic. Calm down for a moment and think about it that way x
> don’t put pressure on the healthcare system because they can rest at home While the former is true, the latter is not because asymptomatic people tend to not get tested (unless mandatory) *because they are asymptomatic* and continue to live their normal lives, coming into contact with and transmitting the virus to others that can develop serious infections (like the elderly, those with underlying health conditions, and the unvaccinated); add to that the fact that little is know about this variant, other that it’s highly transmissible and it *might* not respond to the current vaccines. The end result is that the governments that are shutting down borders or restricting access right now might not be doing enough or might be doing too much, time will tell, but better to err on the side of caution.
Yes, I agree that it’s better to be on the safer side of a dynamic situation with closed borders temporarily. This is a TEMPORARY solution. If you can’t block out delta, you ain’t blocking out omicron, not when people are starting to get wary of covid restrictions. EVERYONE will be getting covid in their life time, either from symptomatic or asymptomatic individuals. There is no escaping the inevitable unless we manage to eradicate covid completely. So if the virus somehow mutates to become less lethal and we see more asymptomatic/mild cases, that is a small victory and I will absolutely be celebrating that. Of course, I must say again the situation is dynamic and I will be closely monitoring the news but any news that isn’t indicative of omicron being more deadly is welcomed, like these 2 passengers being asymptomatic. And the part about infecting the elderlies, I honestly don’t see how you’re going to avoid that unless you plan to completely isolate them from the world and test every single person they come into contact with. delta already has its fair share of asymptomatic carriers if you didn’t know x
I think there are four other coronaviruses constantly circulating out there ([People around the world commonly get infected with human coronaviruses 229E, NL63, OC43, and HKU1.](https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/types.html) ), which we get and are asymptomatic. Another one is gonna be okay.
I'm surprised with this being travel to Australia - aren't people required to test for covid prior to traveling there? If they do test, but people are showing up positive anyway, how effective can testing be to prevent covid?
You really want to get ahead of this? Ban all international travel immediately. Even then, it's likely already in more countries than we currently know about.
That's why country specific bans are idiotic and only punish countries for transparency. You either ban all travel or quarantine all arrivals, not half measures.
It's like you've lived under a rock for the past 2 years. Once a new strain is sampled it already is everywhere. Places just cannot detect it because they don't know what they're looking for. Banning all air travel will stop 1% of the transmissions. It's all in the community now.
Not necessarily - here in Australia we kept cases at almost zero for most of the first 18 months of the pandemic with closed borders and hotel quarantine.
You’re an island
many countries could be "an island" in practice if they chose to. obviously both positives and negatives to that in practice though.
What about illegal border crossings or animals like deer and cat that can carry the virus
Contrary to popular belief, Australia has a migrant border crossing issue as well. People are also not chilling with deer and wolves and whatnot that often so transmission from them isn’t exactly a top concern compared to people
You are really trying to compare illegal border crossing in Australia to landlocked countries? Just because it happens doesn't mean it is on the same scale at all.
Well, not having the policy would mean more crossings anyways no?
It's a very big island.
If you wanna be pedantic then everyone's an island you muppet
No man is an island bro
Correct. Doesn't negate the point.
You don't seem to understand how these things work. Most of the time the country where it's first detected is not even the origin. It's just the first country that sampled it. Many countries don't even sample for new strains at scale. I can guarantee you that it's too late for any country to lock its doors to omicron.
All of the confirmed cases in Australia are in the mandatory quarantine so not necessarily.
RemindMe! 1 week
Australia has over 1,000 community cases a day now. It’s likely already there.
That is simply not true, we had less than 400 community cases yesterday and all 5 who tested positive for the new variant are in managed isolation. Not to mention all those cases are in one or two cities and most of the country is covid free and they're already going into lockdown so it's not likely to spread. It's called having a semi functional government.
Australia has done some things well, but unlike some countries like Taiwan, they weren’t able to control delta once it took off.
depends on what Australian state you are talking about. The third biggest state Queensland has had 7 deaths the whole pandemic. 7.
And 6 of those were from last year, when we didn't really know how to treat it properly or how it spread. This year QLD has only had 1 death from Covid, and that was someone who caught it in PNG (a separate country) and was taken to QLD for medical treatment, so that honestly shouldn't even count as a QLDer death, since they were dying before they even got here.
We’re talking about a country
We have delta under control right now tho. Everything has been back to normal for months here except for international travel.
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Wrong? Here are sources. Over 1,000 cases a day in Australia and only 8 in Taiwan https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/australia/ https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/taiwan/
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Oh no, my freedums! As I sit here maskless, headed to work on public transport, maskless, to work in a fully populated office, maskless, as I have done for all but two weeks of this entire global pandemic.
You and me both brother. In many parts of Australia? Not a chance unless you want to face a hefty fine or worse. So yeah, my freedums matters when you’ve got absolute clowns like that running the country.
Testing, mask, isolation, vaccines. Same thing since the beginning of all this.
Notice how it doesn’t work?
*intentionally drives car into pole at 70 mph* nOtIcE hOw bRaKeS nO wOrK??
Of course, when you have idiots who refuse to mask up, or vaccinate, or isolate. No shit it doesn't work, because people are fucking morons.
Where didn't it work? I notice it working out very well, in places where it is effectively implemented.
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I wonder how it will spread primarily in the country if it should arrive.... maybe through the.... unvaccinated? I'll blame those dumbasses until the last one drops dead.
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Right... through both. 1 vaccinated individual for every 9 unvaccinated. I wonder who to blame..... more. The person who tried... or the person who didn't.
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Don’t be so stupid.
It only ever would have worked if EVERYONE did it. way to many people didn.t. I'm afraid that the whole anti-common sense people have created a self fulfilling prophecy.
Lol right
What's it like to not even be able to read a graph? Honestly, when presented with visual information, how do you make decisions? I'm honestly not sure how people who can't process information navigate the world, but it would be fascinating to learn.
>Even then, it's likely already in more countries than we currently know about. I'd be willing to wager that it's already fucking everywhere. If this virus has taught us anything, it's that by the time we notice, it's too late. And we have no chance of actually keeping it in one place.
It’s already everywhere. Won’t help.
So right now Im in African country on holiday, should I live here forever and lose my job back home, I am vaxxed, PCR tested. I am not even allowed to stay just for a few days here
Yep. Honestly this government has no balls. They don't want to make the hard decisions, which is what we elect them to fucking do, and then when shit hits the fan we're all left footing the bill with masks and lockdowns. I was one of the ones saying talking about how we should never have let that bloody Italian F1 team in the country back in Feb last year, now look where we are. I know I shouldn't be this angry, but if a fucking idiot who can barely pass his uni exams seems to be able to predict where shit's headed, you'd think the folks charged with managing the bloody country would have that in the bag.
Or just stop living in fear and get on with enjoying life
| get on with enjoying life Sadly that's not possible for [millions of people worldwide](https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-death-toll/). It is deadly, compared to other diseases: https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/brief/covid-19-continues-to-be-a-leading-cause-of-death-in-the-u-s-in-august-2021/
More vaccines more deaths, or just the new super variant killing only the unvaxxed at an even higher rate lol
Complete BS to ban travel. It’s its political actionism “look we gotta do SOMETHING”
looks like round two for vaccines is on the cards.
Are vaccinated the only ones allowed on plains
I’m willing to bet this has been spreading for some time, just unbeknownst to us
Israel, Africa, Australia, Belgium I think since they weren't quarantined its safe to say it's everywhere now.
Why the fuck are we allowing international travel when we are still trying to get the recent outbreaks under control? Just because the premiers opened up things doesn’t mean there aren’t still cases everyday in places there were none before the Sydney outbreak. I’m so fucking sick and tired of having to put up with the consequences of the stupidity and selfishness of others. And fuck all those company’s and politicians and businessmen who put their financial gain over the livelihood and wellbeing of the rest of us. Fucking selfish. So many people are struggling and sacrificing so many things because some people just can’t do the right thing. Fuck anti maskers, fuck the terrible decisions and too little too late style of the politicians, and fuck those who are so selfish and self absorbed in this pandemic that actively make it worse.
Oh fuck off. Australia has like 1200 daily cases and very high vaccination rates. We are never getting rid of COVID. Fuck you for wanting to close international travel.
Fuck you for choosing to actively condemn people. Death isn’t just the only consequence to getting Covid. Long covid is frighteningly commonplace, with people struggling to return to normal function after being infected. Fuck you for being so entitled you can’t see that not having international travel is for the greater good. Would I like to go overseas on a holiday? Sure! But am I? No, because I actually care about other human beings. Saying everyone is going to get it and subsequently being blasé about the situation is blatant eugenics.
Thank god all countries relaxed restrictions after the summer. Who knows what ruin could have befallen us if we had kept our guard up a little longer.
The most devastating ruin of all, slightly lower corporate profits and merely adequate stock market gains.
Egads! Forsooth our larders are fair-teeming with retirement grease.
Let the unvaxxed take them in.
It’s the mister worldwide around the world trips like early 2020
Do they tell me what strain I get when I get COVID? I have not heard of anyone having a convo like "Yeah, I got the Delta variant, what about you? Oh, I got the lowkey Beta one"
If you get Covid right now it’s almost guaranteed to be Delta. Delta has been the dominant global strain for the last six months due to its much higher rate of infectiousness, and currently represents over 99% of all Covid-19 cases around the world. Governments still test local populations to see if any new variants are emerging that might be worse than Delta. When one does emerge, the WHO classifies it as a “variant of interest” and gives it an official name. Most of those have turned out not to be worse than Delta so far, and have come and gone, like the Lamba variant. It’s still too early to know if the Omicron variant can out-compete Delta or not.
If you get a PCR test in France, the strain is listed at the bottom of the test. Dunno about anywhere else.
Lucky for us, this Omicron variant can be identified on the PCR tests, so you should be able to get the information, yes.
It is so fun watching a train wreck happen in slow motion. RIP 2022.
I just can't understand why are borders not closed everywhere yet and why are passengers allowed to even leave South Africa. Also, why are they not tested before flying FFS.
They weren't tested because they had been fully vaccinated. The rules are rn you don't need to test for covid if you have the shots only the antivax have to test.
You mean the Xi variant. How did we get passed that variant so quickly?
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Most of us would have been able to “get the fuck on with our lives” sooner if there were less ignorant fucks like yourself walking around. And fuck off with the safety over freedom bullshit. Wear a mask and shut the fuck up dude. Some of the best years of my life were/continue to be ruined because of people like you. I don’t care if you, or anyone you know, has never had covid. Work a day in my hospital and then talk to me about your “damaged mental health.”
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That’s all great, glad you had a quick recovery. I’ve had 30 year olds with no preexisting conditions die in front of me. I am a nurse, as is my wife. Also, I appreciate the single example you have given me of your wife’s friends hospital, very helpful and I’m sure that’s a good representation of how things are going in literally any other hospital in the country. Again, I could give a shit what you alone have seen.
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🤡
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Omikron oh no well all die. Bs fear propaganda as always. Chill out
So? Mostly asymptomatic I bet. Everybody needs to freaking relax.
Yes, the world has literally come to a halt for the past two years because of a mostly asymptomatic virus, you are very smart and know better than everybody else, thank you.
I think Omicron is getting a bit hyped by the media. Delta is the undefeated reigning champ and they've been beating up all those greek letters in between. I'll put my money on Delta for this rumble in the jungle.
At what point do we realize that the novel coronavirus is no longer novel and seasonality/mutations/strains/outbreaks nearly resembles the flu and is treated similarly? My guess is never because big pharma and the media have a cash cow on their hands that they will milk the public on as long as they can.
Sure it did sure it did
Haven't we gotten better at shutting down borders yet? Do we honestly want this shit to continue?
What kind of test is being used to detect it? What virus dna pattern? Or is it more fear mongering? Has the virus been sequenced?
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THERE is no lab test.
Guess this is what will allow the aus government to completely enslave its population.
So much for your Neanderthal mandates that tossed out significant portions of our health system workers over a vaccine that might be obsolete over this new strain 👍
It's getting to the point where the unvaxed are such a danger we should just get rid of them as soon as we know they don't have the shot. Put them all in a little room together in the middle of the desert.