This is an example of a stupid story. If you have a common cold virus going around (and the common cold is probably similarly infectious to Omicron) then it is obvious that many people going into hospital with a broken leg will end up testing positive 
The BBC is required to dumb down stories for the completely thick so there is no analysis which might question the obviously dodgy “within 28 days” stuff.
I hope other countries will be more clever about this. What is happening on the mainland?
This is quite funny too. The Chinese gave us this thing and now the WHO has to avoid offending them
Peter wrote:
The Chinese gave us this thing and now the WHO has to avoid offending them
Why should they? In general, I’m opposed to changing names of things because they may offend someone, somewhere, but in this case it is a new name and skipping Nu and Xi costs literally nothing.
I came from some S.A. doctor on twatter. Justine found it, but as is usual with twatter she can’t find it again. She did not find a link to an original document. It’s probably fairly easy to assemble the data, from one of the CV19 data aggregator sites.
I am becoming increasingly convinced the scientific advice the govts are now getting is BS. We’ve just got this which is completely meaningless without detail, and you will never get detail for “privacy” reasons. At least one person in the UK has died with the Omicron coronavirus variant. Well, it could be somebody who has “no pre-existing conditions” but the weight of 200kg is not allowed to be mentioned.
The BS level is truly stunning. First you have Neil Fergusson, who should be locked away for the public good, trying to incite panic as he has been since the very beginning. Then you have some minister saying “if the cases double every day, there’ll be a million cases by [some date]”. Absolutely true, and in another 9 days there will be more people with Covid than the entire population, shock horror. But all the data shows that the rates actually roll off after hitting a peak. Not obvious why, though I have my own theories.
Well, it was perfectly clear that the “Omikron is great” b.s. which came from ONE person in South Africa was an unqualified statement by someone who should have shut up until clinical research sais what is.
Peter wrote:
Well, it could be somebody who has “no pre-existing conditions” but the weight of 200kg is not allowed to be mentioned.
You can stop shaming obese people here Peter. Otherwise some obese people will reach the conclusion, that they are not welcome here!
Of all the people I know personally who died or had severe illnesses, not O N E was obese. Not ONE. Those who died were all in good health and fitness before they got caught by this plague. Those who have long covid ditto.
Here is another, with the source
And this is relevant too:
This study examined if the parts of the virus, or epitopes, targeted by the CD8+ T-cell response in thirty individuals who recovered from COVID-19 in 2020 were mutated in the Omicron variant. Only one of 52 epitopes identified in this population contained an amino acid that was mutated in Omicron. These data suggest that the T-cell immune response in previously infected, and most likely vaccinated individuals, should still be effective against Omicron
Well, it was perfectly clear that the “Omikron is great” b.s. which came from ONE person in South Africa was an unqualified statement by someone who should have shut up until clinical research sais what is.
The data supports that, however – the assertion that this variant is a very different disease which is largely harmless.
You can stop shaming obese people here
Not at all the case. I am referring to the media reports being rendered practically meaningless by the “PC brigade”. The day EuroGA becomes like the BBC, we may as well shut down. So many of the media reports are in fact precisely along these lines – stating that someone young died (scandal – this is another plague which will wipe out the whole population) and the photo shows someone who is probably 2x the reasonable weight (which cannot be mentioned). I saw one of these yesterday but resisted posting it. How any editor (somebody who presumably went to school at some point, and is supposed to be capable of critical thinking) can print that with a straight face, beggars belief. And I am sure it is same all over Europe; we live in a truly weird world, and that’s before you get to the really strange stuff like this
Here is another
First you have Neil Fergusson, who should be locked away for the public good, trying to incite panic as he has been since the very beginning.
He is a smart guy but no more than a good example of the scientists who are disconnected from reality because putting out the “world will end in x days” message keeps putting bread on the table at home. It’s the same with research grants, which have for many decades been structured to achieve politically-fashionable results, particularly in the EU-funded arena where everything got set up to “buy off” as much of the research community as possible.
For so many people in “science”, CV19 has been the biggest bonanza they have ever seen in their life, and it will continue for decades to come as “real research” gets done on why it spread as it did, and equally importantly why it didn’t spread as so many said it would (that bit in particular, few seem to have much of a clue about). My concern is that a lot of the results will be suppressed because they will show how correlated the crisis has been with the general poor health of the population which is protected from public debate by the sheer vast numbers involved, and which is supported – in rich countries – by the generous provision of national health services.
Peter wrote:
It’s probably fairly easy to assemble the data, from one of the CV19 data aggregator sites.
Yes, but I though showing them like that without having to manually assemble it was quite neat…
Peter wrote:
For so many people in “science”, CV19 has been the biggest bonanza they have ever seen in their life
If Covid has shown one thing is that the whole interaction between science and politics and press is fundamentally flawed. While a “normal” mechanism that in science people throw theories at each other until, after much infighting, the one with the best funding which gains a majority of followers is accepted as truth, it is totally irresponsible if the part of throwing theories around is let loose on the unsavvy public. In such crisis as we have now, it is important that a crisis center is established and ALL, really ALL communication to and from the public goes via that single official voice. Otherwise, the total mess we have now is a logical consequence.
Maybe that is why a lot of people start going mentally back to the dark ages rather than look at science to explain what is going on. Like children with quarreling parents will become insecure and build themselfs their own world of horror, kids who have parents who speak with one voice about what is good or bad will be much more self secure and less likely to fall for stupid horror tales.
If there is a vaccum of proven knowledge, people will suck up any garbage which falls of scientist’s tables or which are made up by some Q’s or whatever other quibblers and tinfoil hat therorists.
Hence science needs to know their responsibility and the limitation of what they can say and what not. Infights where each scientist wants to be on for 4 minutes of fame and more research grants, should be banned.
However, there is very little “proven” theory around. The virus behaviour is not following anything obvious. It will take a lot more research to work out what has been happening.
Politics is a dirty game and politicians have always got somebody who will stab them in the back, so they have to “follow scientific advice” even if it is probably bogus – it is a form of due diligence defence.
