Curfew in the Netherlands starting on Saturday - the first time since WW2.

THE AUSTRALIAN -- 22 January 2021



ROCKMAN

My 80 year old mother called to say she got her first shot, was excited to say it was easy and free!

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kovach
My 80 year old mother called to say she got her first shot, was excited to say it was easy and free!

Yep! All the best to her...

The BBC is reporting that there is some new evidence emerging to suggest the new variant recently found in the U.K. could be more deadly than the original virus.

Nate

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Nate
The BBC is reporting that there is some new evidence emerging to suggest the new variant recently found in the U.K. could be more deadly than the original virus.

Nate

link: [www.bbc.com]

evidence is still in the preliminary stage...for now.

in an ultimate twisted irony - if it is true that this is more deadly, then won't it mean that it will actually die-out faster?

....it's my understanding that viruses that kill their host quicker (Ebola), have less time to reproduce....

I could be wrong....I'm basically Dr. Nick Rivera when it comes to medicine.

[simpsons.fandom.com]

Correct, that why SARS Cov-1 didn’t become a pandemic.

The 2003 SARS virus, a.k.a. SARS-COV-1, was a lot more deadly. From Wikipedia:

In the SARS outbreak of 2003, about 9% of patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-1 infection died. The mortality rate was much higher for those over 60 years old, with mortality rates approaching 50% for this subset of patients.

I was in Singapore and Hong Kong to see the Stones in March 2003, and it was a scary time. People got terribly sick, all hospitals were full. Most sick people would never go out, so I think that is the main difference between SARS-COV-1 (the original SARS) and the "new corona", SARS-COV-2.

There was a few super spreaders, that is why SARS got to Toronto Canada, but it died out fast, because it was deadly, but not many asymptomatic people on travel.

PS. The Singapore shows were surreal, knowing the virus could be with the person next to you. By the time I arrived to Hong Kong, the shows were off, it was too bad there.

Bjornulf

Today there was declared an emergency in Norway, as the UK mutant corona virus is declared out of control for the first time in our country, at the county "Nordre Follo kommune", south east neighbor of the capital city Oslo. They were not able to trace it back to any person arriving from UK, and two elderly are already dead from that cluster.

The health authorities and the government are in emergency meetings this evening, and the entire region of Oslo, east of the Oslo Fjord, will probably be asked to stay at home. Meanwhile, all the 60,000 people who live in Nordre Follo county are asked to stay within their county, take great care, and all shops except for grocery and drug stores are closed immediately.

With the latest UK news about the new UK mutant being 30% to 40% more fatal, a quick and efficient action is very important. Schools and kindergarten may be closed as of Monday, for the entire region.

I live on the other side of the fjord, but it is just a half hour or so by train to the bad area, and we do all work in and around Oslo, so this is a bad situation.

[www.aftenposten.no]

Bjornulf

Coronavirus: UK variant 'may be more deadly' (BBC Jan 22, 2021)

Previous work suggests the new variant spreads between 30% and 70% faster than others, and there are hints it is about 30% more deadly.

For example, with 1,000 60-year-olds infected with the old variant, 10 of them might be expected to die. But this rises to about 13 with the new variant.

Bjornulf

Stay safe out there BV. Hopefully all the people abide by the health regulations.

In the context of the news that BBC brought, how are we then to relate to the following article's further perspectives?


"Emerging Coronavirus Variants May Pose Challenges to Vaccines"

[www.nytimes.com]

[Later added: Obviously referring to separate mutations. Motivation for this post: Do we realistically risk being exposed to mutations with such increased dangers combined?]

Even later edit: I ought to have used the noun "mutant" for the outcome of a mutation.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2021-01-23 12:57 by Witness.

I read in the news about the ‘Kent’ variant. Is it only the U.K. press that are dubbing it that?

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Big Al
I read in the news about the ‘Kent’ variant. Is it only the U.K. press that are dubbing it that?

The "Kent variant" is just another name of the "UK mutant", because it was probably starting in the Kent area of UK. Kent is a county 40 miles i.e. 65 km south east of London UK.

COVID-19: UK coronavirus variant may be more deadly than original virus but vaccines combat it, PM says (SKY News Jan 23, 2021)

Sir Patrick Vallance, the government's chief scientific adviser, said with the initial variant, out of 1,000 people over 60 (years of age) infected with it, 10 would die.

With the UK variant, the available data suggests that 13 or 14 people out of 1,000 from the same age group would be expected to die, he added.

Bjornulf

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Big Al
I read in the news about the ‘Kent’ variant. Is it only the U.K. press that are dubbing it that?

Probably yes, because Kent (where it is believed to have originated) means nothing to the rest of the world!

I've also heard the strain referred to by its "official" name, which is B.1.1.7.

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control - an agency of the European Union - [www.ECDC.Europa.eu] - (21-Jan-2021).

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Beast

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Big Al
I read in the news about the ‘Kent’ variant. Is it only the U.K. press that are dubbing it that?

Probably yes, because Kent (where it is believed to have originated) means nothing to the rest of the world!

I've also heard the strain referred to by its "official" name, which is B.1.1.7.

Hi, Beast. Yes, that’s absolutely what I thought. I reside in Kent.

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Big Al

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Beast

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Big Al
I read in the news about the ‘Kent’ variant. Is it only the U.K. press that are dubbing it that?

Probably yes, because Kent (where it is believed to have originated) means nothing to the rest of the world!

I've also heard the strain referred to by its "official" name, which is B.1.1.7.

Hi, Beast. Yes, that’s absolutely what I thought. I reside in Kent.

Is it possible that the British government is embarrased by the meanwhile globally referred to name of English variant? Before Mexico and more recently China objected against using their country name. I can't recall the Dutch ever objecting against the term "Double Dutch"
Solving the corona problem is the issue, I know we all agree. To be honest, I'm sure some (maybe even many more businesses) companies, who made unexpected huge profits last year, would love to see corona to continu making a mess

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Beast

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Big Al
I read in the news about the ‘Kent’ variant. Is it only the U.K. press that are dubbing it that?

Probably yes, because Kent (where it is believed to have originated) means nothing to the rest of the world!

I've also heard the strain referred to by its "official" name, which is B.1.1.7.

But since Dartford is in Kent, we all know exactly where that is.

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Big Al

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Beast

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Big Al
I read in the news about the ‘Kent’ variant. Is it only the U.K. press that are dubbing it that?

Probably yes, because Kent (where it is believed to have originated) means nothing to the rest of the world!

I've also heard the strain referred to by its "official" name, which is B.1.1.7.

Hi, Beast. Yes, that’s absolutely what I thought. I reside in Kent.

And let’s not forget that Messrs Jagger & Richards are both natives of the county! A good friend of mine lives in Maidstone.

Given that the county is the U.K.’s gateway to Europe, there’s a good chance that the new variant originated elsewhere and was merely discovered there.

So we can all blame it on the "Dartford" variant when 20% of the Norway population i.e. one million people in the Oslo area today got an immediate lock down just like the one we had March 12, except no warning.

I went to the local store this morning at 8am, do get some fresh baked rolls. Normally I am the only customer at that time. This morning there were two other customers in the line with packed shopping carts, like WW III was to start next week.

Also, all 45 state monopoly liquor stores closed immediately, Oslo and east counties region, with the people there flooding into our region this morning, queuing for their alcohol shopping. I expect a more complete lockdown also of our region next week. The UK variant is most probably here too, they just don't have the data yet, as sequencing of the virus takes 1-2 weeks.



Bjornulf



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2021-01-23 15:19 by bv.

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SomeTorontoGirl

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Beast

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Big Al
I read in the news about the ‘Kent’ variant. Is it only the U.K. press that are dubbing it that?

Probably yes, because Kent (where it is believed to have originated) means nothing to the rest of the world!

I've also heard the strain referred to by its "official" name, which is B.1.1.7.

But since Dartford is in Kent, we all know exactly where that is.

OK, you got me there - I should of course have said the rest of the world, excluding Stones fans

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bv
So we can all blame it on the "Dartford" variant when 20% of the Norway population i.e. one million people in the Oslo area today got an immediate lock down just like the one we had March 12, except no warning.

I went to the local store this morning at 8am, do get some fresh baked rolls. Normally I am the only customer at that time. This morning there were two other customers in the line with packed shopping carts, like WW III was to start next week.

Also, all 45 state monopoly liquor stores closed immediately, Oslo and east counties region, with the people there flooding into our region this morning, queuing for their alcohol shopping. I expect a more complete lockdown also of our region next week. The UK variant is most probably here too, they just don't have the data yet, as sequencing of the virus takes 1-2 weeks.

Stay safe, Bjornulf. You & your family are in my prayers.

I think here in Kent we all knew, back as far as November, that something was very badly going wrong in our area, as our numbers continued to soar at an alarming rate, to the highest in England, whereas they were coming down in the rest of the country. We knew it had to be something more than us not following the rules.

We were in disbelief when our Prime Minister, Boris Johnson told us we could get together for 5 days at Xmas, that just sounded all wrong to us, and luckily he changed his mind on that, influenced somewhat by the fact that this new variant was by now prolific in London, which of course the world has heard of! It seemed to us, that suddenly we had been noticed here in Kent!

I have read this new variant has been traced back to somewhere near Canterbury, in Kent, (some 40 - 50 miles from Dartford BV!) as early as September.

Lots of us in the depths of the Kent countryside would say that Dartford is ‘as good as London!’ Yes it means RS fans have heard of Kent (thank-you STG!), but I think I’d prefer to go back to the relative anonymity of having to tell a foreigner that Kent is ‘the bit between London and Dover’, as I don’t think we relish our new found fame!

There seems to be a "new" strain in California too. Scary stuff.

[www.mv-voice.com]

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ycagwywpmd
I think here in Kent we all knew, back as far as November, that something was very badly going wrong in our area, as our numbers continued to soar at an alarming rate, to the highest in England, whereas they were coming down in the rest of the country. We knew it had to be something more than us not following the rules.

We were in disbelief when our Prime Minister, Boris Johnson told us we could get together for 5 days at Xmas, that just sounded all wrong to us, and luckily he changed his mind on that, influenced somewhat by the fact that this new variant was by now prolific in London, which of course the world has heard of! It seemed to us, that suddenly we had been noticed here in Kent!

I have read this new variant has been traced back to somewhere near Canterbury, in Kent, (some 40 - 50 miles from Dartford BV!) as early as September.

Lots of us in the depths of the Kent countryside would say that Dartford is ‘as good as London!’ Yes it means RS fans have heard of Kent (thank-you STG!), but I think I’d prefer to go back to the relative anonymity of having to tell a foreigner that Kent is ‘the bit between London and Dover’, as I don’t think we relish our new found fame!

About Kent and Dartford... My first trip to UK was a trip in 1973 with my then girlfriend now wife since the 70's. We had to visit Dartford, of course, then we had a tent, so we took the train to Gravesend, then back and jumped off in Greenhithe, where we put up our tent in the dark, in what we thought was a field. Next morning we realized it was in a garden, with a horse, and the owned offered us water. The nearby pub was great, we were the only tourists there. I had light ale and bitter, still my favorites in UK.

Now I am sad that the Kent virus is making so much trouble for us. They say such a mutant might appear in a body where the virus is staying for a long time, then over time the chance is bigger for major changes, like the UK variant, with many different items. Anyway, we just have to work harder. We managed for ten months, a few more months then the vaccine will outnumber any variants.

Bjornulf



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021-01-23 19:32 by bv.

The Kent variant is definitely being felt here. We are having major issues in our long-term care homes generally, but the below story in today’s Toronto Star is shocking. Barrie is close to Burl’s Creek, where the Stones last performed in Canada in 2019.

‘The B117 variant, first seen in the U.K., has been confirmed at Roberta Place long-term care home in Barrie. All but three of 127 residents and 84 staff have tested positive, with 29 now dead. Officials had been doing further testing on six preliminary positives. All have been confirmed, according to the Star’s Ed Tubb.’

No way around it, it is here to stay, and mutate. Vaccines will do very little long term good. Its adapt and survive and bury your dead. It will not be going away anytime soon and that means, if one is serious, the end to public life and events, at least for a good long while.

jb

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jbwelda
No way around it, it is here to stay, and mutate. Vaccines will do very little long term good. Its adapt and survive and bury your dead. It will not be going away anytime soon and that means, if one is serious, the end to public life and events, at least for a good long while.

jb

How long is a good long while?

Nate

Nice story, BV. Gravesend is where I’m currently located.