Here we go again.

[JamesE]

This is the first story I've seen where the differences between Delta and Alpha are spelled out. The implications are dire.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/cdc-mask-decision-stunning-findings-cape-cod-beach/story?id=79148102

[kerryd]

It seems the "link" function isn't working.

Edited July 30, 2021 by kerryd

[kerryd]

I am more surprised that they haven't suddenly discovered an "Echo" and a "Foxtrot" and a "Gulf" variant by now.
Especially considering how fast the "B, C and D" variants suddenly (mutated/evolved).

But the story notes the information is based on "unpublished research" which means it's speculative at this point, based on some "best guesses".
Once they have more information, they will "publish" it, which means submitted the paper to a site such as the Lancet where it can be peer-reviewed by other scientists to determine if the research was conducted properly and if the results can be duplicated.

Now one thing to keep in mind. Apparently they are using information that came from India as a base to start their research  (but aren't basing their "guesses" on that data).

The same India where, last spring, scientists published a paper claiming the Covid-19 virus appeared to be connected to the AIDs virus.
Other scientists reviewed their work and literally laughed out loud at them and the Indian scientists were forced to withdraw their paper.

(In other words, if I were in the CDC, I'd take any information coming from India with a very large grain of salt. Which is why the CDC is conducting their own tests. Which may or may not have the same basic results as the tests the Indians did.)

This virus is barely 2 years old and has at least 3 variant strains already.

The scary part is, it has shown people in certain fields (i.e. virologists and bio-weapons research) just how easily a really dangerous virus can be spread around the world in a very short time span.

[JamesE]

50 minutes ago, kerryd said:

haven't suddenly discovered an "Echo" and a "Foxtrot" and a "Gulf" variant by now.

They'll get to those after they go through the Greek alphabet.

Actually, there is a Lambda variant out there but it doesn't seem to be competing well against Delta.

[kerryd]

57 minutes ago, JamesE said:

Actually, there is a Lambda variant out there but it doesn't seem to be competing well against Delta.

Not sure how well these Lambdas would do against the Deltas. I suspect not so good !
(A Lambda Alpha Theta frat from the University of Texas.)

[MrStretch]

1 hour ago, kerryd said:

Not sure how well these Lambdas would do against the Deltas. I suspect not so good !
(A Lambda Alpha Theta frat from the University of Texas.)

Sorority.  Women's greek organizations are called sororities.  Men's greek organizations are called fraternities, as are some professional societies. 

I don't think these Texas belles could handle the Deltas.

Edited July 31, 2021 by MrStretch

[Objectivance]

[HappyExpat]

1 hour ago, kerryd said:

JamesE said:

Actually, there is a Lambda variant out there but it doesn't seem to be competing well against Delta.

Cuz THESE are the Lamda variant spreaders:

 

[HappyExpat]

40 minutes ago, MrStretch said:

Sorority.  Women's greek organizations are called sororities.  Men's greek organizations are called fraternities, as are some professional societies. 

I don't think these Texas belles could handle the Deltas.

Dammit - you beat me to it!

[kerryd]

Yeah, I had no clue if sororities and frats were the same thing or not. (As in, maybe they are "sororities" in colleges and "frats" in universities or something.)

So Delta frats would definitely beat Lamda sororities (in some things at least) regardless of where they study !

[M.O.]

Variants already up to kappa and lambda. Hardly hear about the zeta, eta, theta and iota variants but they are out there. Coming soon, mu and nu...

[JamesE]

7 minutes ago, kerryd said:

Yeah, I had no clue if sororities and frats were the same thing or not. (As in, maybe they are "sororities" in colleges and "frats" in universities or something.)

So Delta frats would definitely beat Lamda sororities (in some things at least) regardless of where they study !

Fraternity - from the Latin root for "brother". Sorority - from the... well, you get the idea. But as why they choose to mix Latin and Greek escapes me.

[kerryd]

What a coincidence. 
Last night I was watching a documentary on some ancient tombs discovered in Saqqara (Egypt). The last episode was about the last stages of the "ancient" Egyptian Empire after it had been conquered by Greece and was basically extinguished after that by the Romans (who of course spoke Latin).


Still plenty of letters left in the alphabet (hmm, "alpha" and "beta" without the "a" ?) in either Greek or Latin.

But what happens when they do run out ? Will we see "the "Alpha Alpha" variant ? Up until we see the "OMG" variant (which will probably be the one that kills us all) !

Or will they go the "Covid-20", "Covid-21" (22/23, etc) route (skipping over Covid-69 of course, wouldn't want people to think that was code for something else).

Or will it just fade away into obscurity like SARS and others ?

Or as the Kurgen liked to say: "It's better to burn out than to fade away !"

[SomTum]

CDC did publish an Early Release of the research after the press got the leaked version: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7031e2.htm

For most people, first weekend of July parties in Provincetown are completely unlike any exposure they would have in their normal life. I think this research proves that a typical post-vaccination antibody army cannot handle the amount of virus particles one can inhale over the course of hours in a sweaty dance club or densely packed house party. However much we could get away with before (with earlier variants), we can't do that any more with Delta on the loose because of the higher volume of virus particles infected folks exhale.