When will this shit end?

[Crazyfool01]

In happier news I managed to unblock my toilet earlier ..... helped by toilet duck ..... at least that shit has ended 

[MrBarry465]

Just now, jannybruck said:

C'mon, of course it won't be.

'Totally Back to Normal' absolutely will be. It depends on what normal is classified as anyway at that point, as the longer it stretches on - then things will never just flip back over. WFH is now here to stay for instance.

[Billy Corgan's Ego]

 

[efcfanwirral]

5 minutes ago, xxialac said:

I live in a curfew country.

It seems to be working and above all stops young people congregating and drinking, which is an obvious cause of the spread.

They've got cases down to 12,000.

Curfew doesn't infringe my civil liberties given it's for a very valid reason during a global pandemic.

You probably have police who are mildly respected and have reasonable numbers? Or if not a population who understands why these measures are in place and not just a set of rules governing their lives 

[Chapple12345]

10 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

you work at a primary school?

Yeah I do with 4-7 year olds, it's all well and good saying the children are fine but what about the staff/families of the children who could be adversely affected if someone caught the virus within the setting, its such a hard balance 

[xxialac]

1 minute ago, efcfanwirral said:

You probably have police who are mildly respected and have reasonable numbers? Or if not a population who understands why these measures are in place and not just a set of rules governing their lives 

Admittedly, that's true on both points. But then they aren't governed by a bunch of spoilt children. 

[zahidf]

I dont think there is any evidence that the current mutations will make the vaccines completely useless. It may effect effacay and make things a bit harder, but starting from scratch seems unlikely.

[Zoo Music Girl]

Just now, Chapple12345 said:

Yeah I do with 4-7 year olds, it's all well and good saying the children are fine but what about the staff/families of the children who could be adversely affected if someone caught the virus within the setting, its such a hard balance 

It's a nightmare to balance and it's shit because it could probably have been avoided if the virus hadn't got so out of control.

I'm really worried about my friend who is extremely vulnerable getting covid from her kids going back to school. But equally worried about the kids not getting their education. It's such a tough one. And that's even without considering the teachers or the general spread, that's just one example of one family.

[RobertProsineckisLighter]

19 minutes ago, crazyfool1 said:

Is there anyway someone in another country can order it for you and send it on ... pain in the ass way of doing it .. but might be a way to go if things become desperate ?!! 

Exactly what I'll be doing, Germany to South Yorkshire via Dubai or Hungary.

Its not desperate but it has caused some dissapointment. 

[Crazyfool01]

3 minutes ago, efcfanwirral said:

You probably have police who are mildly respected and have reasonable numbers? Or if not a population who understands why these measures are in place and not just a set of rules governing their lives 

so lack of movement like we had in lockdown 1 ?  I remember empty motorways and roads then .... we have the same people in play who have probably lost interest .... so yes that needs to be changed .... but it is enforceable because so few people should be out and about and the police arent dealing with other things 

[Toilet Duck]

14 minutes ago, stuartbert two hats said:

So could we actually switch over to manufacturing a vaccine for a different variant in 4-6 weeks, from sequencing to putting in a vial?

From what I understand, the actual development in the lab could be done within a couple of days?

Oh yeah, switching the sequence is a doddle, could do it overnight, would need to run some tests on it to see that it is performing the same way the old one did at that stage and then move ahead to scaling up. The nice thing is that the change being incorporated is a natural one that has evolved, rather than a tweak designed in the lab that is predicted to work. 

[zahidf]

1 minute ago, Toilet Duck said:

Oh yeah, switching the sequence is a doddle, could do it overnight, would need to run some tests on it to see that it is performing the same way the old one did at that stage and then move ahead to scaling up. The nice thing is that the change being incorporated is a natural one that has evolved, rather than a tweak designed in the lab that is predicted to work. 

Do you think it unlikely that a strain could completely evade a vaccine to make it useless, and would instead effect effacy?

[Chapple12345]

4 minutes ago, Zoo Music Girl said:

It's a nightmare to balance and it's shit because it could probably have been avoided if the virus hadn't got so out of control.

I'm really worried about my friend who is extremely vulnerable getting covid from her kids going back to school. But equally worried about the kids not getting their education. It's such a tough one. And that's even without considering the teachers or the general spread, that's just one example of one family.

This is the exact issue every single school in the country is facing and an awful balance to try, I do think schools will be told to shut within the next 2 weeks anyway so sending them back and then sending them off again almost instantly is very damaging anyway 

[Toilet Duck]

Just now, zahidf said:

Do you think it unlikely that a strain could completely evade a vaccine to make it useless, and would instead effect effacy?

I think a change that renders the vaccines useless completely changes the virus and it would more than likely no longer bind to the ACE receptor. So, there’s very little pressure for selecting such an alteration. Accumulated changes in the spike may evade some of the antibodies produced in response to the vaccine, but not all of them. Could have implications for the antibody therapies, but cocktails should still work (not that these are being widely used at the moment anyway). We could always pop a nucleocapsid sequence into later vaccines too since our immune system also targets this (and this isn’t drifting as fast as the spike is). 

[steviewevie]

11 minutes ago, Chapple12345 said:

Yeah I do with 4-7 year olds, it's all well and good saying the children are fine but what about the staff/families of the children who could be adversely affected if someone caught the virus within the setting, its such a hard balance 

yeah, and bigger picture is just leads to more people being infected, as it seems that new variant is spreading more amongst children.

[steviewevie]

3 minutes ago, Chapple12345 said:

This is the exact issue every single school in the country is facing and an awful balance to try, I do think schools will be told to shut within the next 2 weeks anyway so sending them back and then sending them off again almost instantly is very damaging anyway 

Yeah, my sister works in a primary school in York and their headteacher has sent a letter out to all parents saying that the school will probably not open but can't say for sure yet. What a farce.

[steviewevie]

 

[steviewevie]

 

[stuartbert two hats]

7 minutes ago, Toilet Duck said:

We could always pop a nucleocapsid sequence into later vaccines too since our immune system also targets this (and this isn’t drifting as fast as the spike is). 

Tell me more!

[Toilet Duck]

Just as a counterpoint to the rapid growth due to the new variant narrative, Ireland has gone from the lowest case numbers in Europe to the fastest growing in the space of two weeks. Sequencing surveillance as well as spike gene drop out PCR data suggests the new variant only accounts for about 10% of cases here. So explosive growth with the old variant still possible when social interaction increases (we were stable til hospitality reopened and Christmas socialising kicked in). Still can’t say for sure that the new variant is entirely behind the explosion in cases, as mentioned above, probably prudent to assume it is more transmissible until we know better, but if cases are out of control, it’s almost immaterial what variant is behind it. 

[Copperface]

17 minutes ago, MrBarry465 said:

'Totally Back to Normal' absolutely will be. It depends on what normal is classified as anyway at that point, as the longer it stretches on - then things will never just flip back over. WFH is now here to stay for instance.

 

[Copperface]

13 minutes ago, Toilet Duck said:

 We could always pop a nucleocapsid sequence into later vaccines too since our immune system also targets this (and this isn’t drifting as fast as the spike is). 

 

5 minutes ago, stuartbert two hats said:

Tell me more!

Summer Loving Remix 2021

[Toilet Duck]

Just now, stuartbert two hats said:

Tell me more!

So, the spike is a really obvious target for our immune system, it’s sticking up very prominently on the outside of the virus. But the other part of the outside of the virus is the nucleocapsid. This is the protein shell in which the viral RNA is encapsulated. When we look at the range of antibodies our immune system produces after natural infection, there are antibodies to the spike and also antibodies to the nucleocapsid. In fact, these nucleocapsid antibodies are what Pfizer will measure at a later date to get a readout of sterilising immunity from their vaccine (as they could only arise through natural infection, rather than vaccination...if vaccinated individuals have fewer nucleocapsid antibodies compared to controls, then the vaccine prevents infection!). Everybody designed their vaccines using the spike, but antibodies against the nucleocapsid forms part of our immune response to natural infection. A live attenuated or whole killed vaccine would stimulate a more natural immune response and some believe could facilitate sterilising immunity if delivered intra-nasally. There’s still lots of places to go in terms of vaccine development, but the first batch we have are a great start! 

[steviewevie]

The Oxford Covid jab is delivered this week. But when will vaccines bring results?

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jan/03/oxford-covid-jab-delivered-this-week-when-vaccines-results

[Zoo Music Girl]

18 minutes ago, Chapple12345 said:

This is the exact issue every single school in the country is facing and an awful balance to try, I do think schools will be told to shut within the next 2 weeks anyway so sending them back and then sending them off again almost instantly is very damaging anyway 

Yep I agree. And I think plenty of kids will be told to self isolate before that happens so further disruption even ahead of closures.