The Corona Pandemic

Apparently Swedish flags are on sale now

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Assuming @JU97ICE is talking about Cytokine Storms, that is an issue with infection rather than immunization. This is a phenomenon in which the infection produces a massively exaggerated immune response that itself starts to become the primary health threat rather than the virus itself. This is why Dexamethasone and other drugs used for autoimmune diseases were tried and had some degree of success.

One of the things that characterizes a bad strain of the flu is how likely it is to cause a cytokine storm, and those that do then have a higher fatality rate not because they kill more old people but because young people with a seemingly healthy immune system get sick from it. Not much is really understood about it, but one of the interesting things about Covid is how prevalent it has been in the deaths in the elderly.

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Thanks Limie. Cytokine storms is what I was referring to. Just got confused thinking it related to immunization.

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I thought I should check with @Arminius whether it was worth it, before submitting my application, in triplicate, for Boudica’s permission to express my excitement with a modest display of ebullience. :crazy_face:

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So my daughters high school is sending 2-3 emails a day of students who have gone into isolation due to COVID. Years 9 and 10 are already studying from home due to too many students being infected. Is this a similar situation across the country?

How are schools ‘low risk’ again? I understand the hit to the economy and people’s jobs if kids are taken out of school, and I would accept that if that was the reason given for schools staying open, but they have been labelled safe when they clearly are not. Its worth keeping in mind that these kids aren’t asymptomatic either as they would never have been taken out of the school to get tested if they were.

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Realistically, if we really believe we’re only few months from a vaccine, the schools aren’t going to close again.

My son’s year 5 class is currently isolating (day 2) because of his positive test. But the only place he can have possibly got is in school. I’m certain the virus is tearing through schools, most without symptoms.

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That’s what I’d read. One approach gave 70% effectiveness and another 90%. So you’d just go with the 90% one. The other vaccines require two doses as well, don’t they?

We got an email from school last night that two staff members who are in the same household have tested positive for covid. They are now isolating but the school is “confident that our protective measures have ensured that no other person within our school community is required to self-isolate at this stage. The school remains open and your child(ren) should continue to attend as normal if they remain well”.

Really? How does that work then?

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I wouldn’t read too much into the Oxford trial just yet. The half + full dose group (90% efficacy) contained only 2,741 participants while the full + full dose group (70% efficacy) contained 8,895 participants. I personally am waiting for the full results to come out and be analysed. I think there needs to be more studies into why half dose is more effective and also to rule it out being an anomaly of a small dataset.

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Are those small datasets for that field?

This is fair, but they have seen this sort of response before in this type of vaccine, which is of course why they used tested this dosing regimen. It is always possible there are statistical quirks in preliminary analyses, but at nearly 3000 people I think it’s unlikely this is due to a skewing as a result of a non-representative number of outliers.

This is a decent review of it - Why Oxford’s positive COVID vaccine results are puzzling scientists

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Yep thats the one I was just reading :rofl:.

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The UK government has said that people are free to visit relatives over the Christmas period but are to exercise “personal judgment”.

Is this not simply a case of the government passing the blame for their own failings to the public when things inevitably go tits up?

If you haven’t seen it yet, watch Prof Andrew Hayward’s interview on yesterday’s Newsnight. He makes it crystal clear why relaxing lockdown rules over the festive season is a stupid idea.

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It’s so depressing. I left a primary yesterday about 3:45. Staff were all washing down tables, sanitising everything in sight and cleaning everything that hands could touch. They also do this between lessons. All windows open, all classes (and staff) in their own bubbles. Next to the school there’s a park. It was packed with kids with obviously no distancing and the front gate was packed with parents chatting without masks like a typical nice day. Schools can only do so much in the face of almost suicidal levels of idiocy.

Jnr’s now been in school for 3 weeks since March. 3 separate cases in her bubble although she’s been fine.

Hope your little one is better soon. Any symptoms for yourself?

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Worryingly, I don’t think it takes any higher qualification than a 25m swimming badge to know it’s a bad idea.

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I’ve had a bit of a headache and a very mild cough. If that’s it, I’ve got off very lightly.

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My take on this is that Government are trying to preempt the inevitable mass disobedience if people can’t have Christmas. It’s fucking cowardly, and as you rightly say, the appeal to people to behave responsibly is just arse covering. Nothing more.

Everything we’re going through now, is going to be completely unravelled by the country having a massive Christmas blowout.

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Put a rule in place that some people might follow, the only reason I can think of. The government saying I can have my parents round on Christmas day does not protect them and simply makes a mockery of them isolating since March. I suspect a hefty percentage of the population will fuck it though, have a huge blow out. New year’s eve will then be huge parties in the streets. Then square one come early January. Morons.

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Cowardly yes too right…
They probably also thinking the beat police, their stations, the cells, courts and jails will be bursting at the seems if they try and impose any rulings BoJo’s government try to implement.

A sort of get on with it while we as ministers look the other way… see you all in January…
This Government stagger from one crisis to another without a game plan of merit for any of it.

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To be fair.

Without casting judgement. One of the things I see constantly is complaining about draconian rules, mental health issues from loneliness during lockdown, and the state overstepping its authority.

I see praise for states that entrust the population to self regulate

Then the moment you are given that responsibility, the dialogue is how the government is shirking it…

For me, I preferred a hard lockdown, stitch in nine type thing, but I understand completely there’s a portion of society that desperately need that human interaction.

I wish you all the best, I hope the strategy of trusting the public sees you all have a safe and merry Christmas

I apologise if I have overstepped the mark

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I think as long as the schools are open we are gonna have high numbers even with strict lockdowns in other areas (retail and social).A secondary issue is more people going back into work where earlier in the year those same people could work from home.I’m not sure if that is down to companies bringing there employees back in or if the decision is being made by the employee themselves.Carparks in companies are starting to fill up wheras during the summer they where more than half empty,an indication that more mixing is happening than needs to be.

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