SARS CoV-2 coronavirus / Covid-19 (No tin foil hat silliness please)

Well, from my point of view, I’m not stressed about it. For context, I landed at Heathrow at 0730 yesterday morning having been on holiday in South Africa since 30th October. We’ve done a lateral flow test which was negative, and the Test & Trace service actually sent me a text message earlier today saying that they were sending us a couple of PCR test kits they’d like us to complete.
That's interesting. I guess the PCR tests are being sent based on your passenger locator form. Good sign if they are following up despite you completing the mandatory LFT. No request to quarantine at home though I guess?
 
Well, from my point of view, I’m not stressed about it. For context, I landed at Heathrow at 0730 yesterday morning having been on holiday in South Africa since 30th October. We’ve done a lateral flow test which was negative, and the Test & Trace service actually sent me a text message earlier today saying that they were sending us a couple of PCR test kits they’d like us to complete.
We know who to blame now if this fecker runs rife here :)
 
Well, from my point of view, I’m not stressed about it. For context, I landed at Heathrow at 0730 yesterday morning having been on holiday in South Africa since 30th October. We’ve done a lateral flow test which was negative, and the Test & Trace service actually sent me a text message earlier today saying that they were sending us a couple of PCR test kits they’d like us to complete.

So why exactly are you not stressed?
 
Yeah I guess we'll see how it works out.
When are we going to find out if this cnut is vaccine resistant or not?
I’d guess once the scientist have a wide enough sample… at the moment they are concerned due to the amount of mutations in the spike proteins. “I’m just parroting what I’ve read there”. But my layman’s understanding is that the more mutations in that then the more likely it is for variant to become more resistant to vaccines or if enough mutations completely evade it. But I guess they won’t/can’t say conclusively until they they have enough data.
 
So, South Africa will act as guinea pig for the world. Good thing I live far away from SA.

Oh, wait.
Not really. Our scientists and government were stupid enough to think being transparent and warning the world wouldn’t have terrible economic repercussions. This variant will be everywhere soon enough, if it isn’t already - the Belgian who has it had no close contact to anyone from South Africa.
 
That's interesting. I guess the PCR tests are being sent based on your passenger locator form. Good sign if they are following up despite you completing the mandatory LFT. No request to quarantine at home though I guess?
Yep…
Gov text message said:
You have been identified as someone who has travelled recently from or through a red list country. A free PCR test will shortly be delivered to the address provided on your Passenger Locator Form. It is strongly requested that you register, complete this test and return it as soon as practically possible.
Because we arrived before midday Friday we still follow the original rules so no quarantine etc.
 
Not really. Our scientists and government were stupid enough to think being transparent and warning the world wouldn’t have terrible economic repercussions. This variant will be everywhere soon enough, if it isn’t already - the Belgian who has it had no close contact to anyone from South Africa.
It's spreading in SA. We have far more cases than the rest of the world - hence, we are guinea pigs. And it's the start of the December holidays...
 
So why exactly are you not stressed?
Because this virus is here to stay, we’ve spent nearly 2 years dealing with it so far and all of this stuff (testing, masks, vaccinations, rule changes etc) is our new normal. Getting stressed about it won’t make it go away.
 
Because this virus is here to stay, we’ve spent nearly 2 years dealing with it so far and all of this stuff (testing, masks, vaccinations, rule changes etc) is our new normal. Getting stressed about it won’t make it go away.

being stressed isn't a rational decision based on logic

omicron makes me fecking stressed at least! Now I know that Pfizer said they'd need around 90 days to adjust to the new virus, but let's be real - until we all can get the jab, it'll take another additional 90 to 180 days or even more, considering how the distribution went with the last vaccine. Yea, sure, we now have better infrastructure and what not, but if our government (german) is up to the task is not easy to tell. Which kind of means we will most likely end up in a scenario without vaccines again for quite a time...and what happens then? This is becoming a vicious circle. To even think that it's not unlikely at all that we haven't even hit the peak of the pandemic is absolutely vomit inducing.
 
Now confirmed that nu was skipped to avoid confusion with ‘new’, and Xi was skipped cause of President Xi.

What happens when we run out of letters?
 
Does it have same symptoms or even more serious?
No one knows - it's far too early to call. The cases we definitely know about are mostly asymptomatic (and picked up in travel or similar routine testing) or with mild/moderate symptoms (as found in an unvaxxed woman in Belgium). That's like most covid cases.
 
Now confirmed that nu was skipped to avoid confusion with ‘new’, and Xi was skipped cause of President Xi.

What happens when we run out of letters?
Will probably add pro and pro max with the existing names :D .
 
A friend of mine asked the other day if there is any way we could be walking around without masks in a year from now. I said even though the scientific opinion is divided on this matter, a year from now this would all just be a nightmare. We would've moved on and learned to live with COVID. Is this accurate, within the means of possibility. Yay or nay?
 
Response so far seems measured. A lot we don’t know. The doomsday mouthwatering from some is a bit weird though given how little anyone knows. Reminds me of the good old days before the pandemic when you’d see people almost desperate that every single minor military skirmish would turn into WW3
 
being stressed isn't a rational decision based on logic

omicron makes me fecking stressed at least! Now I know that Pfizer said they'd need around 90 days to adjust to the new virus, but let's be real - until we all can get the jab, it'll take another additional 90 to 180 days or even more, considering how the distribution went with the last vaccine. Yea, sure, we now have better infrastructure and what not, but if our government (german) is up to the task is not easy to tell. Which kind of means we will most likely end up in a scenario without vaccines again for quite a time...and what happens then? This is becoming a vicious circle. To even think that it's not unlikely at all that we haven't even hit the peak of the pandemic is absolutely vomit inducing.

Circles don't have peaks
 
Yep…

Because we arrived before midday Friday we still follow the original rules so no quarantine etc.
Wouldn’t common sense tell you to keep to yourselves at least till you get a negative from the PCR test? How will you feel if it comes back positive and you’ve been mixing?
Saying the rules didn’t change till Friday is like getting off a charge on a technicality
 
A friend of mine asked the other day if there is any way we could be walking around without masks in a year from now. I said even though the scientific opinion is divided on this matter, a year from now this would all just be a nightmare. We would've moved on and learned to live with COVID. Is this accurate, within the means of possibility. Yay or nay?
If I had to guess I’d put my money on there being still a reason to wear masks. Covid will unfortunately still be here, it just keeps evolving. So the basic etiquettes won’t go away. I think we should all get used to it and get our Manchester United masks
 
if you make it impossible to spread, this will all go away in weeks
I don’t see how that can be done. You’re talking coordinated lockdowns across the globe with borders closed - and even then you can’t actually close borders because of essential goods being required. Zero COVID seems almost impossible with delta - if this is even more contagious and is already in numerous countries then we have no chance. We just have to hope vaccines stop serious disease which is likely - provided that is the case the strategy hasn’t changed.
 
What are you on about? I think you understood my message in this context. Is this some kind of sophistic bullshitting?

Going back to your comment in possibly not reaching the peak I wonder if we'll ever hit a peak. Like we'll have constant waves of this forever due to vaccine evasive mutations of this virus. So each wave will hit a peak of death then drop off then rinse and repeat etc.

I'm not bullshitting I'm just frustrated and worried about the inevitable consequences that are going to happen. Maybe this is only the start of it.
 
Going back to your comment in possibly not reaching the peak I wonder if we'll ever hit a peak. Like we'll have constant waves of this forever due to vaccine evasive mutations of this virus. So each wave will hit a peak of death then drop off then rinse and repeat etc.

I'm not bullshitting I'm just frustrated and worried about the inevitable consequences that are going to happen. Maybe this is only the start of it.

:( this is my fear as well...I guess we need antiviral medication and a lot more travel bans than we do have now. We won't get through it if we keep on doing what we did so far. We must rethink our strategy so far completely. Honestly I really fear that my 1 y o daughter will ever live life remotely close to what I had before covid. If this is "the new normal", it can't stay like this for years to come.
 
It's spreading in SA. We have far more cases than the rest of the world - hence, we are guinea pigs. And it's the start of the December holidays...
I’ve booked for Cape Town and Umhlanga in December, not sure whether I should cancel - do you think Cyril will ban interprovincial?