I think we should study the variants and understand how to use how fast they are reproducing and use it to increase the reproduction rate of humans in some countries… 
Yes that’s us. Kicking names and taking ass… again. 
Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson. Partner and I’ve been double dosed as of September, read about this variant last night and went… not again. Two weeks left of school, seriously considering that bubble for December… again.
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Honestly, with the work that South Africa’s health services have done getting it identified that quickly, we in the rest of the world should be shipping vaccines and funding a complete national lockdown in SA and neighbours for 3 weeks - pay everyone possible in the six countries to just stay home, test and quarantine. Suppress this variant before it breaks loose. It would be a fraction of the cost of what looks possible. it won’t happen, of course. We will waste a better chance than we were ever given against the original, beta, or delta. But it would appear this will be as bad or worse.
I ran a model using an estimated R from South African data, cut the R in half, and it still has left me shaken. The contagion rate appears to be up in the realm of measles. We don’t know what percentage of SA cases so far are in the vaccinated, but the numbers are shocking. It is either breaking through to the vaccinated population at a significant rate, or it is so efficient at infecting the unvaccinated as to be essentially a guarantee, or some combination thereof. None of the scenarios are good, although the efficient scenario bodes better for me personally, the breakthrough scenario is possibly the less devastating of the two given the total unvaccinated population on the planet.
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In regards to anti-vax argument that people have the right to decide if they take the vaccine or not, I agree, but they also need to accept that business owners have the right to look after their staff and patrons, so they also have the right to ban non vaccinated people if they feel that will best protect the people they are employing and catering to.
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definitely, they should not be vilified either as they are exercising a choice extended to them but they should not be surprised by consequences that can follow like many choices we make in life.
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That’s the problem though in a nutshell. The freedom they want is freedom from consequence. Sorry lads. Doesn’t work like that.
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Jeez, how many alarming elements in one report.
i) Point of origin - not southern Africa, but Egypt
ii) Date of return - November 11, so infection would put it earlier than first known case in Botswana
iii) Incubation - symptoms/test November 22
Von Der Leyen now calling for ‘decisive action’ to shut down air travel from Southern Africa, when the problem now may well be shutting travel down from Belgium.
If we were smart, we’d be shutting down travel from Europe today.
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I wonder if AFCON will now be in doubt, if this new strain of COVID spreads, which it probably will.
Don’t you think, though, that these travel restrictions always come too late? The virus is always at least one step ahead. This new variant, if as contagious as advertised, will spread throughout the world because there are too many exceptions to restrictions.
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As applied, yes. We wonder why the Chinese were able to contain it regionally, and then we look at our exceptions to restrictions. I don’t think they can stop the variant cold, but they can earn some time - and time matters. It is almost certainly too late to stop it from reaching Europe and community tranmission, it may or may not be too late to stop it from entering North America. However, it is notable that neither Canada nor the US have yet reacted to South Africa, let alone stopping European travel. The virus isn’t necessarily one step ahead, governments are one step behind - hence Von DEr Leyen using stirring language about South Africa travel bans when she could walk to a case in someone who has been circulating in Belgium for 10 days.
So yeah, I think we will see it here in a matter of a week at most. Our removal of a PCR test requirement could not have been worse timed.
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I find it interesting the WHO is cautioning against kneejerk travel bans. A marionette for China.
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That would be the same WHO that took longer to acknowledge that covid was airborne than Wired magazine did.
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8 weeks +100 days💉
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So that’s 4 months until it begins to be administered
What restrictions are these? 
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Allow us to jump on the bandwagon.
South Africa cannot be the focus now, just moving too late. The EU is being completely tone-deaf in not addressing the case in Belgium that arrived 15 days ago. Not sure bans are the right step, but extensive testing has to be a precondition for travel now.
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Yeah, don’t book that international holiday just yet. Pretty obvious this thing is gonna go on and on and on…
I was extremely close to booking flights to South Africa as well. Think I’ll hold off for a bit!
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