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https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/south-african-medical-association-says-omicron-variant-causes-mild-disease/articleshow/87949404.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
 

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JOHANNESBURG: The new Omicron variant of the coronavirus results in mild disease, without prominent syndromes, Angelique Coetzee, the chairwoman of the South African Medical Association, told Sputnik on Saturday.

The World Health Organization (WHO) identified on Friday the new South African strain as one of concern, as it is reported to carry a high number of mutations -- 32 -- which possibly makes it more transmissible and dangerous. The WHO has dubbed it Omicron, the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet.

"It presents mild disease with symptoms being sore muscles and tiredness for a day or two not feeling well. So far, we have detected that those infected do not suffer loss of taste or smell. They might have a slight cough. There are no prominent symptoms. Of those infected some are currently being treated at home," Coetzee said

The official noted that hospitals have not been overburdened by Omicron patients and that the new strain is not been detected in vaccinated persons. At the same time, the situation might be different for the unvaccinated.

 

 

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The chairwoman also criticized the decision by some countries to ban flights from South Africa is premature as there is not enough information on how dangerous it is.

 

 

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5 hours ago, jmsaari said:

It's one of the weak points of western democracies that threats of summary execution upon failure rarely carry enough credibility to work as means of xetra motivation :)

But on a more serious note - 6 months to train a covid nurse? Not my field so i won't say its impossible, but from my perspective, if someone started to compress engineering master's degrees to even 12-18-month intensive courses to get people out qualified for just one specific job , i wouldnt want to be involved with the products from any company employing those people... you just couldnt get the overall understanding of the processes and phenomena you're working with to the level you could be trusted to notice with any reliability when something starts going the wrong way or you're about to do something monumentally stupid.  I won't say its definitively impossible in nursing since that's not my field and i'm not quialified to judge, but i'll just say i wouldnt want to be the patient treated by the crash-course-trained nurses...

It would be stripped down, similar to the 17 week corpsman program, to be sure.  What you lose is much of the ability to independently work a problem.  What you get is someone skilled in the techniques but who would be highly reliant on direction from experienced personnel.  It is certainly not the ideal situation but far better than having no medical personnel available.  Had we not had a vaccine we could probably have used such a group this summer.  I'd also expect a lot of people in related fields to make that jump; in my field alone I can think of tens of thousands of research techs and scientists who would have much of the background medical knowledge who would jump at the money. To be fair, I'm also making the assumption that for a quarter million a year you would get a significant number of retirees and transfers from other departments which would give you that layer of experience.  With that said, if you have highly motivated and compensated people I would expect most of them to learn on the job pretty quickly and gain independence rapidly as well.  

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35 minutes ago, Ivanhoe said:

That could end up being very good news indeed if it's a pattern throughout the world, if we finally get a variant that's highly contagious but with clearly milder symptoms. In the best case might end up effectively being a free vaccination with really unpleasant but not particularly dangerous side effects.

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2 hours ago, DB said:

Whatever it is, I'm pretty sure it's not "vaccines cause Covid" like some people here apparently believe.

This post is not directed to DB.

Truthfulness of that statement is quite suspect.

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10 hours ago, jmsaari said:

That could end up being very good news indeed if it's a pattern throughout the world, if we finally get a variant that's highly contagious but with clearly milder symptoms. In the best case might end up effectively being a free vaccination with really unpleasant but not particularly dangerous side effects.

If recent reports are to be believed, natural immunity from such a variant won't produce much improvement for the vaxxed, but could do wonders for the unvaxxed.

If it weren't for the fundamental and persistent dishonesty of public health, I'd almost prefer to catch a mild case to augment my vaccination, rather than do the YABS (Yet Another Booster Shot) program. One could have immune titers off the charts and still lose one's job because of refusal to get the 9th booster shot.

 

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13 hours ago, Ivanhoe said:

If it weren't for the fundamental and persistent dishonesty of public health, I'd almost prefer to catch a mild case to augment my vaccination, rather than do the YABS (Yet Another Booster Shot) program. One could have immune titers off the charts and still lose one's job because of refusal to get the 9th booster shot.

 

If the new variant is as mild as they say, then the science would be to allow it to spread unimpeded so that it could supplant more dangerous variants in circulation up here.  Why am I not holding my breath that this will happen?

One of the arguments for vaccination was that mutations would occur in unvaccinated populations.  Yet it was precisely by mutation in the wild that this new strain found a way not to harm its hosts so much.

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1 hour ago, glenn239 said:

If the new variant is as mild as they say, then the science would be to allow it to spread unimpeded so that it could supplant more dangerous variants in circulation up here.  Why am I not holding my breath that this will happen?

Never waste an opportunity. 

Edited by rmgill
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2 hours ago, glenn239 said:

If the new variant is as mild as they say, then the science would be to allow it to spread unimpeded so that it could supplant more dangerous variants in circulation up here.  Why am I not holding my breath that this will happen?

One of the arguments for vaccination was that mutations would occur in unvaccinated populations.  Yet it was precisely by mutation in the wild that this new strain found a way not to harm its hosts so much.

Because this is not confirmed yet.

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The European Union’s public health body on Tuesday reported 44 omicron variant coronavirus cases in 10 countries across the region.

Andrea Ammon, who chairs the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, said during an online conference that the confirmed cases were all mild or without symptoms. Cases have been confirmed in Austria, Germany, Portugal, and the Netherlands, among other nations in Europe, the health body said.

Separately on Tuesday, Emer Cooke, executive director of the European Medicines Agency said Europe was ready to deal with the new variant, according to the Associated Press, and that it will take two weeks to assess whether the current vaccines work against it.

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On 11/29/2021 at 8:17 AM, nitflegal said:

It would be stripped down, similar to the 17 week corpsman program, to be sure.  What you lose is much of the ability to independently work a problem.  What you get is someone skilled in the techniques but who would be highly reliant on direction from experienced personnel.  It is certainly not the ideal situation but far better than having no medical personnel available.  Had we not had a vaccine we could probably have used such a group this summer.  I'd also expect a lot of people in related fields to make that jump; in my field alone I can think of tens of thousands of research techs and scientists who would have much of the background medical knowledge who would jump at the money. To be fair, I'm also making the assumption that for a quarter million a year you would get a significant number of retirees and transfers from other departments which would give you that layer of experience.  With that said, if you have highly motivated and compensated people I would expect most of them to learn on the job pretty quickly and gain independence rapidly as well.  

As an ex-corpsman I can agree with the first paragraph. The same for the two eyeball tech schools. But I can attest that at least from 1982-87 I had more independence for eye care than I do now in the civilian world. Ahh, the days of using a cotton tip applicator tipped with a 30 gauge needle to remove a superficial corneal foreign body with the individual looking on who did not wear safety glasses ;)

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22 hours ago, TrustMe said:

I'm going for my third jam tomorrow. Hopefully it will work against this new Omicron variant.

Hope it all goes well.

Edited to add:

On the political front, this does not look good. 


Ursula von der Leyen, EU Commission President, stated:

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'Therefore I think it is understandable and appropriate to lead this discussion now, how we can encourage and potentially think about how we can have mandatory vaccination within the European Union. 

'This needs discussion, this needs a common approach, but it is a discussion that I think needs to be had.'

Edited by sunday
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On molnupiravir:

An FDA summary showed that in the second half of the study, patients in the group treated with the drug were more likely to be hospitalized or to die than those who got the placebo. The drug's protection against death seen in the first half of the study didn't hold up in the second half.

When asked about this discrepancy by committee chairperson Dr. Lindsey Baden, Dr. Nicholas Kartsonis, a Merck senior vice president, said, "I don't have a satisfying answer to your question."

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/11/30/1060130774/an-fda-panel-supports-merck-covid-drug-in-mixed-vote

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8 hours ago, sunday said:

Hope it all goes well.

Edited to add:

On the political front, this does not look good. 


Ursula von der Leyen, EU Commission President, stated:

Thanks Sunday.

 

That news link certainly looks like European hegemony to me.

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3 hours ago, R011 said:

Is the nice responsible fellow carrying a P-38?  One doesn't see many of them anymore.

I ain't seen an SF crimmo using a P38 since 'Scorpio' used one in the first Dirty Harry.

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https://www.sciencealert.com/is-omicron-more-contagious-than-delta-here-s-what-we-know-and-what-we-don-tl
 

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The Omicron variant has 50 mutations overall, with 32 mutations on the spike protein alone. The spike protein – which forms protruding knobs on the outside of the SARS-CoV-2 virus – helps the virus adhere to cells so that it can gain entry. It is also the protein that all three vaccines currently available in the US use to induce protective antibodies.

 

 

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It is too early to say if the Omicron variant is fitter than Delta or if it will become dominant. Omicron shares some mutations with the Delta variant but also possesses others that are quite different.

But one of the reasons why we in the research community are particularly concerned is that the Omicron variant has 10 mutations in the receptor-binding domain – the part of the spike protein that interacts with the ACE-2 receptor and mediates entry into cells – compared with just two for the Delta variant.

 

 

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