News Forum - Omicron is causing concern as health authorities battle to learn about the new Covid strain

[Lawyers_Guns_and_Money]

18 hours ago, Thaiger said:

Countries around the world are pushing back against the latest strain of Covid-19, now officially called by its Greek alphabet name ‘Omicron’, or B.1.1.529 if you want to be scientific. Potentially, the new variant is more a transmissible coronavirus and was first recognised by South African health authorities. Now, a number of countries are already banning travellers from several southern African nations including South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi. Meanwhile, Thailand is banning entry of travellers from 8 African countries. Joe Phaahla, the South African Health Minister, says that it initially looked like some cluster outbreaks. […]

The story Omicron is causing concern as health authorities battle to learn about the new Covid strain as seen on Thaiger News.

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The most recent variant simply exists. Any concern that it is causing or reaction to it is a decison that is being made in response to it's existence. Little is known about this most recent variant. But one day into the story we know that there are less than 10 confirmed cases outside of South Africa. The South African doctors who tracked it say that the people infected suffered fatigue and body aches for several days and would not have sought medical care. So based on what we know....it seems that an overreaction has begun to play out.

[Stardust]

3 hours ago, Soidog said:

Yes of course people die every day of other things. So does that mean the world should just accept that another 3 to 5 million additional people should die just so people can go out and party and not have to wear a mask to protect people. And what do you do when the hospitalisations spike and there are no beds to treat cancers, heart attacks or road traffic accidents resulting in even more premature deaths? Can you answer that please?
 

It’s utterly crazy to think it’s ok to just let things run it’s course without trying to minimise it’s impact. How can you be so obtuse ? 

Sorry soidog but the hospitalization went down with the new variants and hospitals are more concerned about the former variants with serious symptoms. The concerned now is about that it is more infectious but nothing with surprise. And thats what the reports from the experts says who are forefront including the ones who are responsible for the vaccines. Sorry but did you read about hospitalization, symptoms and new variants including the cases in south africa? Sure it is a concern for the airlines because it is more infectious. 

[HolyCowCm]

39 minutes ago, Bob20 said:

Immediately?

Discovered 9 November

Reported 26 November

There ahs to be more to that story than that. I will do some reading on it, but seems the whistle is always been a bit delayed to be blown.

[JohninDublin]

19 hours ago, Pompies said:

By early next year there will be enough spread of this variant here to bring in a whole raft of new restrictions. The past use of an inferior vaccine has left a large part of the Thai population virtually defenceless against Omicron and the booster shot programme will be overwhelmed by new cases. So Covid continues to be the gift that gives to the control freaks in government who have been responsible for the destruction of so many livelihoods amongst ordinary people.

I can see where you are coming from and understand your anger.

Two things I would say: The first is that Omicron is still being assessed. The initial news on the new variant is gloomy. It may be more virulent and deadly, but what is known about it is based on a relatively small number of cases from countries that lack the better healthcare infrastructure of the major western economies. We don't know yet. 

As for the suggestion that it "continues to be the gift that gives to the control freaks in government", I really have my doubts that this applies to many. In the first few months of this pandemic, death rates were approaching 5% in relation to new cases. Had govs done nothing and just "let it rip", that would have put us on target for 400 mill deaths worldwide. Govs had to do something, and whereas I can accept that some took advantage of the situation, there were plenty did a good job. Today, the mortality rates are down to about 1.2-1.3%. That's about 3 mill lives saved. 

[JohninDublin]

19 hours ago, ThaiEyes said:

Yes and what happened to all the other Greek letters between Delta and Omicron? Most notably Nu and Xi

I'll have a guess: They were deliberately missed out because they sounded too chinese. The WHO's equivalent of Basil Fawlty's "Don't mention the war".

[NCC1701A]

i can't believe what cowards people are. its disgusting. 

[Pinetree]

2 minutes ago, JohninDubin said:

I'll have a guess: They were deliberately missed out because they sounded too chinese. The WHO's equivalent of Basil Fawlty's "Don't mention the war".

I'm sure that the planet 'Omicron Theta' featured in Star Trek, well it would explain a lot of the mystery if it originated there? 

[JohninDublin]

10 hours ago, AussieBob said:

Well said Mate - and a lot of people are of the same opinion.  That we (the western world) allowed that evil  communist dictatorship to join the world trade and get extremely rich and powerful, is a disgrace to democracy. So many western businesses gleefully 'indulged' in their slave labour, non-existent HR and Safety rules, and massively scaled cheap manufacturing - all for profit and bonuses.  That WHO bypassed Xi and called it Omicron speaks volumes of the power and control that China now exerts. And just like their complete refusal to support the World at the climate change meeting in UK, they are doing SFA for the benefit of the world - they do everything for themselves - everything.

I think it needs to be said, that before the WTO, there was GATT, and there were plenty of undesirables who were also member of that org. 

There is this school of thought in the west, that we can only get recalcitrant countries to accept our values by including them in international activities. So as an example, we gave them an Olympics and they agreed to liberalise on rights such as free speech. They agreed that every urban area would have the equivalent of a "Speakers Corner" set aside. All that was necessary was for the speaker to apply for a permit. The IOC trumpeted this as a success, and the Chinese stuck to their word that anyone obtaining a permit, would be allowed to speak. To date, no permits have been issued, but there was nothing in the agreement that said China had to issue permits. 

Around the world we are witnessing Sino Financial Colonialism, with China "gifting" infrastructure projects to poorer nations as in Africa and these countries then reciprocating with trade deals that allow Beijing to exploit their raw materials. Sometimes, it might be a new football stadium, but often it is a road or railway that allows them to move these raw materials to seaports. The Chinese GDP is heavily dependent on a continuing supply of items such as copper. They can't keep building ghost cities where nobody wants to live or can afford to.

Like yourself, I am in favour of pushback. But the Chinese tentacles have spread so far, that it will have to be co-ordinated. There I can see a problem in getting quite a few corrupt third world leaders going along with the idea that denying China access to their raw materials, which is one way of bringing the Chinese economy to a halt, is in the financial interests of those leaders.

[JohninDublin]

10 hours ago, BangkokBen said:

I have a better idea.  Lock yourself in your closet until you feel safe and let the rest of us get back to living.  99.6% of us will be just fine.

You might want to revise that 99.6% figure. Already 3.2% of the world has been infected, and about 1-in-3 of those are likely to suffer "long-covid". That's about 80 million people. And so far, 0.6% of the planet's population have died from it. 

That does not take into consideration that there are plenty of people who believe that govs are covering up more serious numbers.

[Soidog]

6 hours ago, Stardust said:

Sorry soidog but the hospitalization went down with the new variants and hospitals are more concerned about the former variants with serious symptoms. The concerned now is about that it is more infectious but nothing with surprise. And thats what the reports from the experts says who are forefront including the ones who are responsible for the vaccines. Sorry but did you read about hospitalization, symptoms and new variants including the cases in south africa? Sure it is a concern for the airlines because it is more infectious. 

Hi, I wasn’t referring to any specific strain or variant, more the general approach some people have towards the additional millions who have already died and could go on to die by simply opening up without taking a few precautions. This idea that “we all have to die of something” or “millions die of cancer each year” is utterly ridiculous, as Covid are additional deaths. 
 

Like you, I have started to catch up on some of the comments coming out of Southern Africa and hopefully they are encouraging. I want this crazy situation to be over as quickly as anyone else. However, I’m not prepared to see many people die, just so I can have a night out or an easier life. I do wonder what these people would have been like in a world war lasting 5 years and then another 5 years of hardship when it ended. This is our generations time to step up to the challenge.  

[Smithydog]

To answer an earlier question, here is the link to the WHO page that shows variants being tracked.

https://www.who.int/en/activities/tracking-SARS-CoV-2-variants/

As responsible people, in this new period of discovery about this new variant, we need to be careful our comments avoid wild speculation and we don't use possibly outdated scientific studies to be the sole way we support our opinions. I still see so many arguments from both sides on various social media being supported by outdated research prior to the evolution of the Delta strain and any complications it posed, as an example.

When your boundaries change, you need to make sure your previously "proven" facts are still that...proven! Otherwise, you may simply end up looking like a fool.

Fear of the unknown (sometimes representing itself as "concern" as highlighted in this article) is a natural part of the human process of gaining understanding. Wild speculation and unfounded or unsupported comments do nothing to help reduce such fear. They just become a barrier to gaining proper understanding and hence are not wanted.

[ThaiEyes]

1 hour ago, JohninDubin said:

I'll have a guess: They were deliberately missed out because they sounded too chinese. The WHO's equivalent of Basil Fawlty's "Don't mention the war".

Well I’m sure Xi was skipped because we wouldn’t want to offend President For Life Xi.

[Stardust]

32 minutes ago, Smithydog said:

To answer an earlier question, here is the link to the WHO page that shows variants being tracked.

https://www.who.int/en/activities/tracking-SARS-CoV-2-variants/

As responsible people, in this new period of discovery about this new variant, we need to be careful our comments avoid wild speculation and we don't use possibly outdated scientific studies to be the sole way we support our opinions. I still see so many arguments from both sides on various social media being supported by outdated research prior to the evolution of the Delta strain and any complications it posed, as an example.

When your boundaries change, you need to make sure your previously "proven" facts are still that...proven! Otherwise, you may simply end up looking like a fool.

Fear of the unknown (sometimes representing itself as "concern" as highlighted in this article) is a natural part of the human process of gaining understanding. Wild speculation and unfounded or unsupported comments do nothing to help reduce such fear. They just become a barrier to gaining proper understanding and hence are not wanted.

I would say statements from the forefront (hospitals) and from biontech are no speculations because they have it 24 hours on the radar. The hospitalization rate and numbers inclusive death rates are not any secrets or any speculations. By the way reports are out of the analyzes inclusive interviews from biontech mainz germany in the german government channel, too. Biggest concern is about that the variant is more infectious but hozpitalization rates are there and as facts and no secrets or speculations. I am more wondering like things are not on the radar and nobody would know anything and is complete surprised because it is the opposite what the experts say who have it on the radar because it is their job. As I said I am really wondering about this different reports in some news because they seem speculative compare to the reports from the officials of the forfronters.

[CNX]

We just need to wait 2 weeks and all will be revealed. 

[LoongFred]

8 hours ago, HolyCowCm said:

Yeah, but there might be time as new variants emerge to use XI. Maybe that will have to be used when it becomes the most dangerous fatal mutation and the WHO has their head finally out of his rear-end and taking the CCP's buy you off funds. I really don't care what anyone says as in it is a naturally jumping evolution mutated virus, because everything else points to the lab and the CCP's actions that they either let it slip out purposely or it got out by mistake after they armed it. I just hope mankind gets lucky with this Omicron mutation and it is not as harsh as the suspect it to be and we keep striving to reach a point of normality. But then again with XI's push to take the world, even if the virus is restrained to a point, they are not and WWlll is looking like on the horizon, that is unless the Allies let their tails slip under and over their genital's. Russia is another one. We should be looking to contain the virus and hold hands in this world, not try to take over people and countries territory and dominate enslaving them.

Let's name if Joe then. Oh! not a Greek letter.

[DwizzleyMatthews]

[AussieBob]

On 11/28/2021 at 9:46 AM, Dr.Sivada said:

Don’t be naive, people die everyday, unfortunately. It is not desirable but it does happen: the side effect of living. Based on you silly logic, driving should be forbidden due to the death it causes annually. 

One of the silliest posts of all time - congratulations.  This is from your world:

Sorry mate but we aint gonna send an ambulance because people die every day.

You go right ahead mare - dont wear helmet or seatbelt, dont look when crossing the road, dont visit docs or hospitals, dont take medications - you are gonna die one day so why worry about it.

[AussieBob]

14 hours ago, Soidog said:

Hi, I wasn’t referring to any specific strain or variant, more the general approach some people have towards the additional millions who have already died and could go on to die by simply opening up without taking a few precautions. This idea that “we all have to die of something” or “millions die of cancer each year” is utterly ridiculous, as Covid are additional deaths. 
 

Like you, I have started to catch up on some of the comments coming out of Southern Africa and hopefully they are encouraging. I want this crazy situation to be over as quickly as anyone else. However, I’m not prepared to see many people die, just so I can have a night out or an easier life. I do wonder what these people would have been like in a world war lasting 5 years and then another 5 years of hardship when it ended. This is our generations time to step up to the challenge.  

Well said mate - too many 'me me' people not looking at the big picture  - not enough 'us us'.  If they tried to eradicate Polio these days, it would not work now because of all the 'me me' people. 

What we the majority need to do (in Democracies worldwide) is to go back to what we did before.  The majority rules, and the minority does not - they can go suck rocks. For far too long we have allowed the views of minorities to shape public opinion - some was good, some was bad - but most now is fringe dweller rubbish. We must stop listening to minorities and start listening to the majority.   When a few thousand in a city of millions protest, that means that the vast majority do not agree with them.  Protests about things like women's rights and stopping Vietnam war were right - now protests are being used by the minority to get what they want. Time to pull it all back, and put the minority back in its place - and if they dont like it, then they can go suck rocks.  There are only 2 choices - the Majority rules (Democracy) - the Party/King rules (China). It is time to stop the minority ruling in democracies - which means stopping listening to them.

 

[Soidog]

8 hours ago, AussieBob said:

Well said mate - too many 'me me' people not looking at the big picture  - not enough 'us us'.  If they tried to eradicate Polio these days, it would not work now because of all the 'me me' people. 

What we the majority need to do (in Democracies worldwide) is to go back to what we did before.  The majority rules, and the minority does not - they can go suck rocks. For far too long we have allowed the views of minorities to shape public opinion - some was good, some was bad - but most now is fringe dweller rubbish. We must stop listening to minorities and start listening to the majority.   When a few thousand in a city of millions protest, that means that the vast majority do not agree with them.  Protests about things like women's rights and stopping Vietnam war were right - now protests are being used by the minority to get what they want. Time to pull it all back, and put the minority back in its place - and if they dont like it, then they can go suck rocks.  There are only 2 choices - the Majority rules (Democracy) - the Party/King rules (China). It is time to stop the minority ruling in democracies - which means stopping listening to them.

I totally agree. I refer to them as the Silent Majority. Most people are simply too busy getting on with life and keeping down a job and raising a family to protest against minority issues. The 24 hour media are searching for new stories all the time and so jump at the chance to make a big issue over people protesting about some minority issue. I’m sure if there was a referendum on many of these issues, and it was easy for everyone to cast a vote, we would see them defeated 80% to 20%. 
 

I fear however that this isn’t going to change. The minorities have the attention of the mainstream media and flood social media. Countries such as Russia use our own stupidity against us and manipulate social media to make these issues appear bigger and more dangerous than they are. Coupled with a negative reporting style in western media on just about anything, and I think we are screwed. The generation currently at school are being bombarded with the same issues. Everything they are taught has an element of minority interests included and they just think it’s normal.