So Can We Stop It With The Latest Cobras Now?

[ToraToraTora]

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-most-omicron-cases-are-mild-and-theres-no-evidence-to-suggest-vaccines-may-be-less-effective-against-the-variant-says-who-12483729

[tomus42]

Everyone is obsessing about infection rates now, when it used to be deaths. The news loves to show you the dramatic looking graph where the infection rate is shooting upwards and seems to quickly gloss over the graph where hospitalisations and deaths are going down.

I'm not a conspiracy nutter. Just saying the media seems to prefer a crisis over anything else.

[douglas9401]

I reckon if it hasn't got me by now and I've had both doses plus the booster I'll be okay.

It scares me not.

[neuron]

So tomus42, viruses mutate to become less harmful. Sorry mate but you're way off the mark. Take at look at what happened with Ebola and the 1918 Spanish flu. But hang on, let's not stop there. Wasn't there something about covid delta becoming covid delta plus?
Viruses are not bothered about killing the host. They just pop off elsewhere to the next lucky host

[neuron]

Peter Pedant will be along soon to give his learned opinion.

[tomus42]

It has never scared me Douglas. I follow the rules and listen to the scientists because I think that's what grown ups should do. I'm happy for others to do otherwise and deal with any consequences accordingly.

[tomus42]

It's just something I heard from an 'expert' on the telly once neuron. Not my personal theory, but it seemed to make sense. What did happen to Spanish flu by the way? Did we find a cure?

[neuron]

No, we didn't find a cure. Natural immunity to the virus arose as time went on and by the early twenties the virus was extinct in the population.
Some sources give the number of deaths involved as 50million worldwide. Others say it was as high as 100million worldwide.

[queencharlotte]

Perhaps the reason for assuming the worst and clamping down yet again is that previously we have been expert in locking the stable door after the horse has bolted. Anyway, what do they mean by " even more transmissible "? We catch it by looking at someone, or what? Omygodicron - just another thing to worry about, like Yellowstone?

[ToraToraTora]

I think Tomus has a point, viruses do mutate some get worse some get better but from a survival point of view a virus that mutates to become milder has a better chance of survival thus that is more common.

[diddlydo]

This could turn out to be a storm in a teacup - we were all supposed to be s*** scared of the beta and gamma variants but now we can barely remember what they were. Another point is that we're not told the age range of the latest high number of cases - my suspicion (based on what I know about my own village)is that a huge % of them are Primary School-age kids who mostly have a sniffly cold which lasts 3-4 days. This could explain why hospital numbers are going down each day.

[tomus42]

Neuron, thanks. So we didn't cure it. It just went away, presumably after a few mutations.

[Gromit]

We shouldn’t compare covid with Spanish Flu (SF), but since we are doing so on this thread, it is worth noting that SF lasted for 3 waves, the middle one being the most deadly. Covid we are now experiencing the 5th or 6th wave.
In terms of deaths, we are now similar to the first wave (April 20) and the second wave (Aug 20) which both resulted in lockdowns.

[Gromit]

Just to clarify, the ‘we’ above is about world figures, not UK figures.

[10ClarionSt]

Follow the daily figures on the govt website. The figures are going down regularly. Positive tests are not turning into cases. Hospital admissions are down; deaths are down. Where is the pandemic? Oh yes, as I said before, it's now a Pan(ic)demic. I honestly think that some people have been getting a kick out of being in this pan-ic-demic, especially the precious, the pious and the saintly citizens who occupy AB, th'old folks home of tinternet.

[dave50]

Gromit - Am I right in thinking that you would support another lockdown no matter what the effect on the economy, mental health and non treatment of other serious ailments is, ie covid trumps everything, a disease that is serious to a miniscule proportion of the population?

[Gromit]

(the peak of the first wave saw 8,500 deaths daily, which is the same as were recorded on Wednesday 1.12.21).

[ToraToraTora]

gromit: "In terms of deaths, we are now similar to the first wave (April 20) and the second wave (Aug 20) which both resulted in lockdowns."
"Just to clarify, the ‘we’ above is about world figures, not UK figures" - because that suits your agenda, which no one seems to be able to fathom.
last 7 day average: 109 deaths
April 20, 7 day avg: 970 deaths
do you have some sort of vested interest in spinning these figures?

[ToraToraTora]

dave50: "Gromit - Am I right in thinking that you would support another lockdown no matter what the effect on the economy, mental health and non treatment of other serious ailments is, ie covid trumps everything, a disease that is serious to a miniscule proportion of the population? " - he's still smarting from his 6 weeks from July 19th lock down prediction. I think he'd love another lockdown, I can only assume he has some sort of vested interest.

[ToraToraTora]

10cs 10:58, deaths and hospital admissions have been falling for 6 weeks. Positives tests rising slightly.

[ToraToraTora]

avg daily deaths in jan 21: 1283, last 7 days: 109. 91.5% reduction, the vaccine is working, Stevie Wonder could see that, lets stop it with the cobras.