Re: CORONAVIRUS-Updates, discussion, etc

[TrueCrazyLion]

Totally agreed Aggie, I really hope the new strain has been made to look worse than it is by coincidence with rising infection rates. It’s about time we got some slightly better news! LOL

[Lenzabi]

Even with a new upsurge of cases here, folks are still going out to take flights and trains etc to go to family for the Holidays in spite of advice to stay home and huddle down.

[TrueCrazyLion]

Tomorrow we’re due to get an extra announcement from the Scottish Government RE Coronavirus, apparently:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/covid-scotland-nicola-sturgeon-give-19532926.amp

Bearing in mind the high case rates and the timing of this expected speech, I’m guessing we might be about to get a tightening-up and/or lengthening of the current lockdown.
Definitely I 110% support that if it helps deal with this new strain of the virus.

[Agartha]

I haven't had a chance to follow the news properly: so Nicola made an announcement today and she'll make another one tomorrow??? Wow... you are probably right, with 1900 new cases today (the highest since the pandemic started), she may say we are going into a full lockdown again.

[TrueCrazyLion]

She hasn’t made an announcement today, no, but she’s due to make one tomorrow, at about 3:30PM apparently.

I’m guessing it must be a new decision to intensify lockdown in some way, given the decision to make a new announcement between Christmas and New Year; they most likely would be waiting till after New Year if it was anything else, is my guess.

[Agartha]

Ah, I saw Nicola talking and I assumed she had made an announcement... and you are right, it has to be something important or she could have waited until the new year. 

It could also be related to brexit, perhaps?

[TrueCrazyLion]

Yeah, I guess it shows how all-encompassing the Coronavirus situation has been, that it’s dominated all other situations including Brexit; it feels like Coronavirus has constantly pushed Brexit onto the back pages, even when Brexit is just about to happen!

Yep, you’re right - it could be about Brexit too, the timing might suggest that as well.

[TrueCrazyLion]

So the announcement was about the virus, but only to inform the public that the mutated version of the virus is now apparently becoming dominant:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/6469055/coronavirus-scotland-lockdown-restrictions-tier-four/amp/

This definitely makes sense, given the rising case numbers.
(I’m guessing that lockdown is also likely to be tightened or extended - or both - before the end of the current 3-week lockdown in due course too. I just don’t see it being realistically possible to ease restrictions again as soon as mid-January with this new souped-up virus doing the rounds.)

[Agartha]

I think we'll be better by April/May, but we won't be able to live more 'normally' until 2022.

[TrueCrazyLion]

Yeah, April is also the month I’m thinking we’ll really start noticing a difference. Not sure why I’m thinking April and not March or May for example, but I think it’ll take time for enough people to get vaccinated for it to start making a noticeable difference to how society is operating, the change will be slow at first and then it’ll gather speed and we’ll start noticing a big difference.
But I think the tipping point is going to be in April, somehow.

[TrueCrazyLion]

Breaking news this afternoon, Scottish Parliament is being recalled ahead of schedule again, and this time it really does look like we’ll be getting a tightening of lockdown measures:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1379040/coronavirus-uk-scotland-lockdown-nicola-sturgeon-school-closures-boris-johnson/amp

I’m just hoping it’ll be enough when it happens. Scotland leading the way, again!

[TrueCrazyLion]

Here we go, officially - Scotland will be in total lockdown again, starting at midnight tonight:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-scotland-55531069

I’m glad we’re doing the right thing. Crazy to let people socialise right now with this horrible upgraded virus going about!

[Rogue]

It must surely feel like stepping back into last year, but I'm sure it is the right thing to be doing.

[TrueCrazyLion]

Yes, it kinda does - to an extent I guess, because last year we didn’t start the lockdown till a long way through March, when the days are much longer and the weather is usually much warmer than it is in January(Depending on the year and on whether we get an early spring or not; last March was quite mild).

Those two months between January and March make a big difference to how the season feels, both in terms of day length and normally in terms of ambient temperature, which I think makes a big difference to overall mood.

This lockdown will be in the middle of winter, and looks like it might coincide with some harsh winter weather too. So mentally I’m expecting it to be a lot tougher.

[Agartha]

Yes, it will be hard... but necessary right now. The situation is getting out of hands.

It's difficult for many but I feel for young people (like my kids) who once again will be isolated for weeks. I fear for many teenagers mental health, right now... but we need to do it, and I totally support this decision.

I told mine this evening to look at the bright side of things: this year we'll get the virus under control and next year we'll be able to live normally again...... I told them we'll book a nice holiday to celebrate!

What I didn't say is that I am tired, tired of it all, and I don't have the same energy to fight like we did back in April-June last year.

[Kaere]

It's been in the news that there's a South African version of the virus that no one's sure the vaccine will work on.

I feel pretty defeated.

[TrueCrazyLion]

I’ve heard about the South African one as well, and here’s one of the latest reports on it:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/world-africa-55531838

Looks like we might need to work especially hard to contain it. But the vaccines are understood to still work against it, just maybe not as well.

[Agartha]

Yes, the South African variant is actually more problematic than the UK one, because one of the mutations reduces antibody recognition. But both Pfizer and Astrazeneca have said they can tweak their vaccines if they don't work as well with this new SA variant (and it should take them no more than 6 weeks to do so).

[TrueCrazyLion]

Yeah, that’s my understanding too: That even if the virus does manage to mutate to the point where it “escapes” the original vaccine, modifying the vaccine to deal with the mutant virus will be much quicker and easier than creating the original vaccine was, because the existing vaccine would only need to be tweaked slightly - plus vaccine technology has improved significantly, even in the last year.

I know that the South African variant has been known about for at least a couple of weeks, because one of the pizza delivery drivers who delivers to my residence is from South Africa, and one night last week he told me about the South African virus himself - and insisted that he wasn’t responsible for it! LOL

[Rogue]

6 weeks to tweak It? Does that mean the current vaccine is basically not worth having now?

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