The Omicron variant

quokula

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118357004#Comment_118357004

I'd have question marks over Dr Coetzee who is no doubt under political pressure as the South African economy is dependent on other nations opening their borders back up.

However the study above that you were responding to seemed sound. It didn't make any overall claims about the severity of the virus, just made the observation that the virus replicates far more in the upper respiratory system and far less in the lungs. This was also seen in another study from Hong Kong I saw a couple of days ago so it does seem to be a consistent observation (though again, it's early days and none of these studies are peer reviewed yet)

This doesn't mean it can't or won't be serious for some people though, certainly, and I don't think any of these studies are trying to say that.

corkie

https://twitter.com/UKHSA/status/1473324700860399620

15,363 additional confirmed cases #Omicron. UK now total 60,508.

^^^ Up from yesterdays 8,044 weekend low figure.

UK PDF: - Omicron daily overview: 21 December 2021

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-omicron-daily-overview

dominatinMC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118357055#Comment_118357055

And equally there are posters who, as a famous TV character put it, "love the misery".

After 2 years of this shitshow, I don't see the harm in some people clinging to a bit of hope. Hardly a reason to be castigated. Particularly when more and more evidence seems to be tipping the scales in the favour of positivity.

niallo27

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118357055#Comment_118357055

Downplaying any positive news is not healthy for yourself. Bad news sells, you must know this by now.

Tom_Crean

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118357089#Comment_118357089

I'm grand thanks, very happy 😊

ceadaoin.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118355906#Comment_118355906

Seems like he had pretty severe underlying conditions, given that he had also previously been infected. This could also be the first confirmed case of a death after previous infection? Perhaps these conditions could also be part of the reason he wasn't vaccinated. We don't know what they are.

Tom_Crean

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118357089#Comment_118357089

You, on the other hand, were saying yesterday you haven't been feeling well for 2 years. Comparing your low spirits, to the scientifically proven long covid? When it was just low mood.

Kinda ironic you're giving health advice a day later, to someone like me, who's ultra positive and resilient 😆

Scuid Mhór

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118356571#Comment_118356571

What is the implication of this for people with asthma?

deholleboom

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118357302#Comment_118357302

Bronchi regulate the airflow between the lungs and the windpipe. So they need to be open. People suffering from bronchitis have a lower capacity transferring oxygen so blocked bronchi due to infection (fluids) is a type of congestion which non bronchitis people usually can deal with but can easily cause real difficulties in bronchitis patients (breathing problems.) It is usually called 'asthmatic bronchitis'. Asthma is a tightening of the muscles around the airwaves due to inflammation with swelling.

That is where the danger lies w Omicron. Higher levels of inflammation in the bronchi compared to Delta. But less in the lungs themselves so less of the organising pneumonia (lungs) we saw w the wild type (Wuhan) which caused the large majority of Covid deaths.

But like everything, it is a matter of scale..

RavenBea17b

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118357302#Comment_118357302

Exactly, that is what I was wondering. Population make up of Ireland - I read somewhere Ireland is the 4th highest prevalence of asthma. c500k diagnosed - 1:8 people. In the UK, over 8 million people, or approximately 12% of the population, have been diagnosed with asthma. However, some may have grown out of the condition, and 5.4 million people are receiving asthma treatment. Scotland alone is 6.5% of the total.

Lumen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118356785#Comment_118356785

Are you seriously arguing that your leaving cert biology makes you more qualified than an up to date medical scientist, or for that matter even Leo Varadkar?

ginoginelli

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118357089#Comment_118357089

He is questioning it. That's a good thing. Any new data needs to be scrutinized and verified. Its constructive.

Unlike the scared shitless posters, living in denial, who prefer to wrap themselves in cotton wool, and indulge in relentless and deluded Pollyannaisms throughout the pandemic.

Tom_Crean

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118357522#Comment_118357522

No. That's you trying to make a bollix of me. The way posters twist things for a few thanks.

I spoke about the bronchi's closeness to the lungs. Yes a lot has to do with cell structure and attachment. However, I've often seen milder doses have worse effects on the immunocompromised.

As I said Prof McConkey is as qualified as your hero Prof. Ballaux. And who'd quote the former.

Scuid Mhór

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118357372#Comment_118357372

Thanks for the information, that was very comprehensive. My generalist understanding is that asthmatic bronchitis is nowhere near as serious on a statistical scale as pneumonia so would this not be good news overall? Like one of the big risks for asthma sufferers originally was the development of pneumonia from covid.

deholleboom

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118357522#Comment_118357522

You actually do not have to be that well qualified to make proper inferences. If and when medical experts start misleading or lying to the public it is better to hold on tight to your skeptical hat and do some digging.

I have seen many statements about 'two vaccinations do not protect you from Omicron but three will' which IS a lie not only perpetrated by the media but also allowed and promoted by politicians and medical experts. They know they are lying and doing it willingly. I think because they feel the need to hammer in the message and make the ignorant jump at getting a booster which DOES help, except not in preventing infection. So, if people think they wont get it w a booster and think their mask is a proper safeguard they will stand in line. It clearly IS working so i understand the process..

ginoginelli

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118357621#Comment_118357621

True. If you looks at 'covid age'. a treble vaccinated 70 plus with co morbidities has a similar risk profile to an unvaccinated 40 year old.

Some people are under the impression they are bullet proof with 3 doses, when they are anything but.

Micky 32

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118357533#Comment_118357533

Who are the scared shitless posters you talk of? Please do list them. Utter scutter.

Tom_Crean

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118357702#Comment_118357702

If they're scared shitless it would be utter scutter alright Micky🤣

lee_baby_simms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118357123#Comment_118357123

You’re a real breath a fresh air here Tom Cream.

Tom_Crean

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118357735#Comment_118357735

Thank you. Arra look, what will happen will happen. It's better to face it with a smile and optimism.

Look I'm also lucky in that my livelihood hasn't been effected, no one belonging to me died. I don't want to belittle anyone's experience.

Also mental health is a very personal thing. We don't know what others are suffering.

I would say that if you were feeling down, you'd be aswell away from these threads. They'd make you worse.

deholleboom

People in general just follow the news headlines and maybe a few paragraphs of information provided to them by a seemingly trusted board of experts. There are usually not many bad actors but just a perpetuum mobile in a loop in which a consensus seems to appear because everybody thinks everybody else thinks the same. Little by little dissonant voices no matter how qualified will be elbowed out and the outcome will be seen as the only logical one within the parameters the people in the inner circle create that is open to debate. Anyone outside is basically a bad actor, a fringe player, an ignoramus and should be punished. Ordinary people will support it because now you have a working dichotomy with people on the right and the wrong side. Omicron has made this actually much worse but it is the culmination of a few years of fear and trepidation. I am quite repulsed by what some of my friends and relatives have dared to utter, mainly about those who have refused the current vaccines. It has been a sliding scale and you dont need a master in psychology to understand the path and mission creep which has lead to an extention of control measures, more rules and regulations over the last years and into the future, with the backup of more and more citizens complying w any new rule the new moral army has in store.

Freedom has become a word that is now frowned upon in the West and you must be some right wing nutcase to mention it, or an anti vaxxer, or Trump supporter or all three. My liberal friends havent a clue about this.

I wonder if, when Omicron come and gone, we will get any freedom back without the fear of implementation of policies like the ones during Covid? I heared PM Mark Rutte fr the Netherlands declare: "even if we had enough resources, hospital beds, staff and ICUs i would still go for a lockdown". Is this what we have become?

saabsaab

Looking like the Omicron variant is less harmful but very transmissible. It will sweep through us over the next month or so and may act as a free vax?

corkie

https://twitter.com/BNODesk/status/1473402362962354192

https://leaderpost.com/pmn/business-pmn/israel-to-offer-fourth-dose-of-covid-19-vaccine-to-people-over-60

Israel reports first known death from Omicron variant

Israel has recorded its first known death from the Omicron variant of Covid-19, according to Israeli news media which reported that an elderly man died in Beersheba.

The patient died at Soroka Medical Center and had pre-existing conditions, according to the Times of Israel and Ynet news reports on Tuesday.

The two news agencies both said he was over 60 and had received two vaccine doses but not a third booster shot.

total (worldwide) 103,555

Note: added new Omicron prevalence data 

Genomic sequencing, which is used to confirm the variant, is performed on only a small number of coronavirus cases. As a result, the actual number of Omicron cases is believed to be significantly higher than the number of confirmed Omicron cases.

That's why we have decided to start reporting on estimates of Omicron prevalence* by national health authorities, when these numbers are available.

*) This is the most accurate indication of the share of current Omicron cases as a percentage of the total amount of coronavirus cases in a country.

https://newsnodes.com/omicron_tracker

^^^ prevalence data is a few days out of date.

MTU

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118358528#Comment_118358528

When can we get our fourth vaccine?

igCorcaigh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118357621#Comment_118357621

Any statement that claims that 'X do not protect you from Omicron but Y will' is completely unscientific and should be recognised as such.

It can be ok to use sentences like that in an informal way, when the context is obvious. But here, I don't think it is.

Sobit1964

Checking in - has there been any evidence that this is something that a sane person might worry about?

celt262

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118358603#Comment_118358603

Pop into a pharmacy and tell them you want your booster and they would be none the wiser.

deholleboom

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118358873#Comment_118358873

That is why most scientists usually do clarify matters when pushed. They just dont get pushed enough because everybody wants the booster campaign to continue full speed. First it was for the vulnerable which is for obvious reasons, then for every adult. The 'magic potion' formula.

Anyway, when pushed they will admit that, when confronted with actual data, the boosters will result in higher levels of antibodies (after about a week) in relation to people's vaccination and a higher protection level against severe Covid symptoms so less of a chance of having to go to hospital.

What they will be reluctant to admit is that A: those antibodies only come into effect AFTER an infection,( but will be faster in response compared to the trigger system primed by the vaccination) so you can still both get and pass on the virus, B: you still have significant protection against Covid with a vaccination. It just takes the system a bit longer to get going, C: they cant compute how much protection it gives as every variable depends on another. And im sure ive left out a few others.

So, if society choses to ban the unvaccinated from participating under these conditions and for the reasons stated i have a few other suggestions:

Ban high sugar products. Ban chip shops. And/or ban obese people buying these products because they clog up hospital beds,

Monitor exercise levels w personal computers (chips) and ban people who are under a certain level, and/or put them in re-training camps,

Monitor 'undesireables' for having the wrong opinion and publicly shame them.

Do you see where im going with this?

According to Luke O’Neill this evening it would appear that in the vast majority of people Omicron, like most common cold viruses, only invades the naso-pharynx, rather than pulmonary tissue, and that it is about the most contagious virus ever known. In other words we will all be infected, perhaps regularly, and it could be that we live with it. Trouble is with a mutation that makes for an equally contagious but very pathogenic variant.

Timmy O Toole

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118357059#Comment_118357059

So you don't trust SA experts because of political pressure but you believe experts from other countries who are saying the exact same thing.. Wut?