Another new variant of concern , since my last mention.
The Mu variant
which is feared to be resistant to immunity has been flagged by the World Health Organisation as a "variant of interest".

The Mu variant, also known as B.1.621, originated in Colombia in January, and now accounts of 39 per cent of cases in the South American country.

"The Mu variant has a constellation of mutations that indicate potential properties of immune escape," a WHO statement reads.

"Preliminary data presented to the Virus Evolution Working Group show a reduction in neutralisation capacity of convalescent and vaccine sera similar to that seen for the Beta variant, but this needs to be confirmed by further studies."

Any similarities to the Beta variant makes Mu a cause for concern.

The Beta variant's spike protein makes it more infectious and potentially harder to treat.

* ** *
However , obviously not all variants survive to cause major problems.
Some just die out .
(like for example the Beta variant I think it was , mostly died out , and has since been overtaken by others , especially Delta currently)

So it's all a matter of finding them and observing to see what they do ,
while preparing for if they become dominant.

(and remember , it had to be a variant to become able to infect humans in the first place , wherever that happened)

 

Here ,
we're down to 28 new cases today/yesterday ,
following 49 previous
and 72 the day before that.
(we fully expect the numbers to bounce up n down for a while yet.
There are still a lot of household and family members that may be infected.
One recent case had had 4 negative tests , and then got a positive , so they can take a while to show up , although it seems most show quite quickly)

No new community spread , all are connected to known isolating cases , and already isolated.
All in Auckland excepting 1 today and 1 two days ago , in Wellington, connected to that small cluster.

South of Auckland we've been down to level 3 since Thursday night , including Wellington ,
and Northland joined us yesterday ,
after no further covid in any waste water in the region for a few days ,
and no new cases obviously.
So only Auckland still in level 4 now.

There will be a decision on whether we go down to level 2 early next week ,
and possibly when Auckland will start to step down , if things keep going well.

It's to early to be to cocky , but we're quite optimistic that this outbreak will be over in a few weeks , and hopefully back to having covid eliminated from the community again.

Big problem is we have to expect other escapes from MIQ at any time ,
and having to go again.
Just hope we get to a level of vaccine protection to allow less restriction if/when it dose happen ,
but it probably has to be close to 90%.

 

Interesting letter in the latest nature referencing a work Science that implicates auto-antibodies as a significant cause of death from covid infection.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02337-5

thinskin

 

The scientific intelligence investigation into the origins of sars-cov2 has concluded that the virus was not weaponized and is unlikely to have been engineered.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02366-0

Thinskin

 

Nice graphic from the Guardian showing how the delta variant spread compared to other variants.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/d...ronavirus-spread-infectious-flatten-the-curve

Thinskin

 

Thank you @slutwolf , hopefully this time it can be kept clean.
We may disagree on the handling of the virus, but not on the importance of learning about it.

 

A new variant that may be a cause for concern because of similarities to delta.

https://www.theguardian.com/austral...iant-in-south-africa-and-should-we-be-worried

Thinskin

 

So... how come sanctions n ammo ban

No.. your doing a fine job starting a whole lecel of bullshit about a bullshit topic...

 

Your thread got moved to politics, so you decided to start a new one... geee go figure.. fake ass smile

 

I'm going to start a Go Fund Me to build the tomb of the Unknown Covid19 Victim.

At this point in the pandemic, I knew 3 people who died of Covid19, all of them my age or younger. I've lost count of how many friends have contracted it

 

I heard just today of three friends that have it. One has lost the fight and the decision to pull the plug is all that's standing in the way. She was unvaccinated.
Sent her daughter to Summer Camp, the daughter came home and gave it to her mama. It's happening all around us.

 

Covid-19 update:
20 new community cases reported in New Zealand,
one new death.

a woman in her 90s who was a confirmed case of Covid-19 died in North Shore Hospital last night.
it was not clinically appropriate for her to receive ventilator or ICU care.

The woman was admitted to hospital on 28 August from home.
She was a household contact of a case and had been confirmed as a case before admission to hospital.

It is the first death attributed to the coronavirus since mid-February.
Prior to this,
nobody in New Zealand had died from Covid-19 since September 2020.

Total covid deaths in NZ to date now 27.

 

bloomin'eck (bloody hell)

Looking across the ditch , it's not hard to see why we'll happily give it a good crack at elimination again.

Australia 1758 cases
1533 in NSW , population about 8.2 million ,
compared to NZ 5.1 million , with 20 cases.

(NSW rate would equate to over 950 a day here ,
and they are still going up consiststly about 100 to 200 a day )

Remember this NSW outbreak began with one case on June 16 ,
11 & 1/2 weeks ago ,
and been over 1,000 cases a day for 12 days ,
since Aug 24

(Just now , over 1,000 covid patients in hospital now in NSW , straining the system)

 

In this article from the RIVM, the Dutch CDC is a graphic that shows how quickly delta replaced alpha as the predominant and fitter variant of the virus.

https://coronadashboard.government.nl/landelijk/varianten

Thinskin

 

Only 20 new cases here again today ,
all in Auckland ,
all connected to existing clusters or known contacts.

Of the total of our community cases of
782 now ,
352 are in the AOG Mangere church cluster,
and
72 in the Birkdale cluster of case A

so 434 are directly connected to just two of the first cases ,
(that is , it only took two infected people in the community to start a chain of over 400 so far , and as far as we know , only one escape of the virus from MIQ , caused all we have now)
illustrating just how easily this variant spreads quickly

We have 43 in hospital , with 7 in ICU

 

The hammer seems to be working again for the kiwis........@slutwolf are you vaccinating your population?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...s-20-new-covid-cases-as-spread-of-delta-slows

Thinskin

 

I think there may be a lot of misconceptions about our hard lockdown.
It is actually not as severe as many may think.
Unless we are actually infected , or a close contact etc , isolating ,
we can go shopping "locally" for essentials and anything the exempt places sell.
Pharmacies , Service Stations (petrol stations) , and Supermarkets/groceries.

So we can certainly get anything we need , and plenty of extas , virtually any time we want.

Also , we are not confined to the house or home.
We can go out "locally" for exercise , walking , riding bicycles etc , and can drive to a "local" park or beach etc for exercise , even in level 4.
Basically things that are not likely to require the call out of assistance , like S&R , Coastguard and the like.
So no hunting , boating , fishing , surfing , skiing , mountaineering etc.
All that is required is that you maintain a safe distance of "at least 2 metres" from anyone not in your bubble.
(your bubble being only the people you're living with , the people in your household)
and that you wear a mask in confined places , including any enclosed public space , so shopping etc , on transport and so on.

(so far I have only ever had to wear a mask 4 times , for a total of maybe an hour.
Not a great hardship really)


In level 3 , we can go fishing from the shore.
Businesses can operate if they can do so with "contactless trading"
or like through a hole in the wall.

(I got screws and a wire brush from the local hardware 2 days ago. They just had the front door open enough , with a table across inside , and I stood outside , with a mask on)

Again simple , and no problem.
We can get most things we want ,
if the providers want to operate.

we call level 3 "level 4 with takeaways"

 

Heck even the normal flu that came around every year with new variants we got our annual flu shot. Scientists have cured things in the past with vaccine's, remember the polio vaccine? I've gotten the Pfizer shots no problem, when the booster is ready I'll take it.