Coronavirus: Please use this thread for all COVID19 talk!

We still have over 29,000 people in hospital with covid, lockdown not ending anytime soon.
Next update from Boris is on the 22nd, hopefully it will be better news.
Regarding vaccines, to be effective against new strains the new Oxford one could be ready by October.

 

By which time there could be yet more strains.

 

The point of posting the letter is because it proves that Independent Sage advised the government to aim for Zero Covid, as it believed the government plan wasn’t strong enough to succeed in stopping the continuing spread of the virus.
I think you are being kind to the government with your line “I am not convinced that the government has handled this pandemic well”, because the general consensus from polls I have seen and taken part in, is that around 75% of people believe that the government has handled the crisis “very badly”.

The one area where they have got it right is in buying up as many vaccines as they can and let the NHS handle the rollout of the vaccinations, but even then they still leave the back door open for variants to enter the country, as a direct result of their poor decision making with regards to our borders and not enforcing quarantine on arrivals.

How long would it take for the virus to die out, under total lockdown situations?
6-8 weeks?
Time that the government could use to plan and enforce a proper border control, to minimise the reintroduction of the virus and hand the test and trace system wholly to the NHS, whilst asking Serco for a refund.
And for those who say that Australia and New Zealand have only succeeded because of having lower populations and lower population density than the UK, how do they explain the success of Japan, another island nation with a greater population and greater population density than the UK?
It can be done.

 

There will definitely be more strains, however Phzer/Moderna and Oxford AstraZeneca say the vaccines will still work against new variants and will tweak if necessary to keep on top of it.

 

Haven't South Africa just said the current Oxford one isn’t very good against their strain?

 

The numbers (2,000 people average age 31) were involved in the trial - so it means there can only be limited confidence in the findings at the moment - and there is a hope that the vaccine will still stop people becoming severely ill.

What is more, the South African variant is nowhere near the dominant type in the UK.

 

I thought I had seen the same. I think they are currently working on an updated vaccine that will be more effective against it, but it won’t be ready for several months.
I am guessing that any vaccine that is tweaked still has to go through the safety check process before it can be released for use to the wider population.
I am currently very interested in finding out if the Pfizer vaccine has been confirmed as being equally effective when the 3 week gap between the first and second jab isn’t adhered to.
Being the first vaccine issued it has been given to many of the oldest and most vulnerable groups, including my wife, so I have a vested interest in knowing if her immunity levels will be as good as advertised.

 

Just had my first vaccination...straight in, straight out and back home by the actual time of my appointment. Had the Oxford one on the day they announce it may not be that good against the South Africa strain...though its been pointed out that that isn't our major strain at the moment...so still grateful for it. Was always going to be the case that we would need updated vaccines....just like the flu one. My white blood cells are now running around screaming 'Don't panic, don't panic'.

 

Housemate is out of isolation and out and about. When his 10 days were up asked someone at the NHS if he should get another test once his isolation period was over, was told not to bother as you can test positive for up to 90 days after your first test so as long as no symptoms you can leave isolation.

Rest of us tested negative again the day his isolation ended so hopefully we’ve got away with it. Does seem slightly strange as he had it for over a week before isolating he reckoned and sharing kitchen/bathroom/living room etc and nobody else caught it seems weird to me. Not complaining though

 

On my way to grab some lunch today I met a chap who needed directions to the drop off point for patient belongings.

Bloke had driven from Medway as his wife has recently awoken and been moved from ICU. Nice to see some genuine joy in someone with all the bad news about at the minute.

 

This apparently is the results of a small test on the South African variant of Covid.

• The sample size in the new study was small. Of 1749 participants, 42 got sick, of whom 19 had the vaccine and 23 had a placebo, producing an efficacy figure of just 22 per cent. Also, the vaccine doesn’t appear to cut transmission of the South African variant, also known as 501Y.V2.
• However, no one became severely ill or died.
• That is partly because participants were young – average age 31 – but also because while the vaccine doesn’t appear to prompt a significant immune response in the form of antibodies specific to 501Y.V2, it does still boost a broader immune response in the form of T cells.
• So AstraZeneca believes its vaccine still offers protection against serious illness and death from the variant.

 

A bit of information on tweaked vaccines. They don’t need to go through the full test procedure, which is good news.

In the meantime: AstraZeneca (and Pfizer and Moderna, the two leading mRNA vaccine makers) are tweaking their vaccines to tackle 501Y.V2 head-on. Sources say adapted vaccines won’t require full clinical trials and that the approval process could take as little as six weeks.

 

Well that was a piece of cake. No need to wait afterwards, so I managed to get the next bus home. No soreness so far!

 

Oh well.

 

I must admit to being really bloody nervous when I went in for mine.

It didnt help when the Dr asked me to hop up on the couch on all fours, and told me Id feel a little prick

 

Rather than an acceptable level of deaths, it's probably better to talk about an acceptable level of risk. There has to also be an acceptable level of restrictions people can reasonably be expected to adopt. The likelihood has to be that the virus is not going to completely disappear anytime soon, so the question becomes not how do we eradicate it, but how do we manage it.


The death rate for all living things remains stable at 100%, in any case.

 

And we dont want the current average age of death from CoVid to drop below 117 years old either.

 

Had my first jab today, was advised that I would need to wait 15 mins before driving. I said my wife can drive she is waiting in the car... I said she is a year younger than me.. she was offered the jab... I waited 15 mins whilst she went through.. and I drove home... result..

 

Wonder at what point NHS England will become less strict about who it's given too. Understand why but it's surely better than doses being wasted.