Delta variant and all future global variant surges (all are free post)

[Mountain Man]

That will be interesting. Though I have little hope for an unarmed citizenry going up against armed military.

Will soldiers open fire on a group of peaceful, unarmed citizens who are protesting the suppression of essential liberties? It's sad that we even have to ask that question.

[seanD]

Will soldiers open fire on a group of peaceful, unarmed citizens who are protesting the suppression of essential liberties? It's sad that we even have to ask that question.

At the rapid rate Australia is moving, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they did.

[Starlight]

And the people of Australia are not accepting this quietly as thousands are marching on parliament in protest.

Current polling's not looking good for the government there, gonna be turfed out in next year's election it seems.

...meaning the current right-wing/conservatives will be replaced with left-wing/liberals.

[seanD]

Current polling's not looking good for the government there, gonna be turfed out in next year's election it seems.

...meaning the current right-wing/conservatives will be replaced with left-wing/liberals.

"Conservative" overseas seems to be a different animal than conservative here in the states. And though NEOconservative tainted the meaning of conservative during the Bush era, conservative here in the states is orientated for the most part around the constitution. I'm not too sure what conservative means overseas, as there seems to be a variety of conflicting viewpoints about it.

[Mountain Man]

"Conservative" overseas seems to be a different animal than conservative here in the states. And though NEOconservative tainted the meaning of conservative during the Bush era, conservative here in the states is orientated for the most part around the constitution. I'm not too sure what conservative means overseas, as there seems to be a variety of conflicting viewpoints about it.

to hear Starlight tell it, tyrants like Stalin and Hitler are considered right-wing conservatives in Europe whereas here in the US, they have a lot in common with the political left.

[seanD]

to hear Starlight tell it, tyrants like Stalin and Hitler are considered right-wing conservatives in Europe whereas here in the US, they have a lot in common with the political left.

The left here in the states is 100% on board not just authoritarianism in the name of woke culture, but 100% on board government and corporate authoritarianism in the name of the covid, so if the uprising against this authoritarianism sweeping across the EU in the name of covid is leftwing, then the left and right are very different creatures compared to the states.

[NorrinRadd]

Communication becomes increasingly difficult. Accepted meanings of words change almost in real time.

Here in the U.S., "Left" and "Liberal" are no longer synonyms.

[Mountain Man]

Despite Joe's authoritarian approach to stopping the China flu and ready availability of treatments, the official death count under Joe will soon surpass that of President Trump.

During the final presidential debate between Trump and Biden on October 22, 2020, Biden insisted that “anyone who’s responsible for that many deaths” — which at the time was at around 220,000 — “should not remain as President of the United States of America,” notes TIME.

While Biden claims that an individual should not remain president if hundreds of thousands of coronavirus-related deaths have occurred during their administration, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki nonetheless confirmed on Monday that Biden plans to run for reelection in 2024.

The New York Times has also admitted that more people in the United States have died of the coronavirus this year than last year — despite the widespread availability of vaccines.

“This was supposed to be the year vaccines brought the pandemic under control. Instead, more people in the United States have died from Covid-19 this year than died last year, before vaccines were available,” the New York Times reported.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2...-in-less-time/

[Gondwanaland]

Another new strain: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03552-w

Researchers in South Africa are racing to track the concerning rise of a new variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The variant harbours a large number of mutations found in other variants, including Delta, and it seems to be spreading quickly across South Africa.

A top priority is to follow the variant more closely as it spreads: it was first identified in Botswana this month and has turned up in travellers to Hong Kong from South Africa. Scientists are also trying to understand the variant’s properties, such as whether it can evade immune responses triggered by vaccines and whether it causes more or less severe disease than other variants do.

“We’re flying at warp speed,” says Penny Moore, a virologist at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, whose lab is gauging the variant’s potential to dodge immunity from vaccines and previous infections. There are anecdotal reports of reinfections and cases in vaccinated individuals, but “at this stage it’s too early to tell anything,” Moore adds.

“There’s a lot we don’t understand about this variant,” Richard Lessells, an infectious disease physician at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa, said at a press briefing organized by South Africa’s health department on 25 November. “The mutation profile gives us concern, but now we need to do the work to understand the significance of this variant and what it means for the response to the pandemic.”

A World Health Organization (WHO) expert group will meet on 26 November, and will likely label the strain — currently known as B.1.1.529 — as a variant of concern or variant of interest, Tulio de Oliveira, a bioinformatician at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, said at the briefing. The variant would likely be named Nu — the next available letter in the Greek alphabet naming system for coronavirus variants — if it is flagged by the WHO group.

Researchers also want to measure the variant’s potential to spread globally, possibly sparking new waves of infection or exacerbating ongoing rises being driven by Delta.
Changes to spike


Researchers spotted B.1.1.529 in genome-sequencing data from Botswana. The variant stood out because it contains more than 30 changes to the spike protein — the SARS-CoV-2 protein that recognizes host cells and is the main target of the body’s immune responses. Many of the changes have been found in variants such as Delta and Alpha and are linked to heightened infectivity and the ability to evade infection-blocking antibodies.

But the variant’s apparent sharp rise in South Africa’s Gauteng province — home to Johannesburg — is also setting off alarm bells. Cases increased rapidly in the province in November, particularly in schools and among young people, according to Lessells. Genome sequencing and other genetic analysis from de Oliveira’s team found that the B.1.1.529 variant was responsible for all of 77 of the virus samples they analysed from Gauteng, collected between 12 and 20 November. Analysis of hundreds more samples are in the works.

The variant harbours a spike mutation that allows it to be detected by genotyping tests that deliver results much more rapidly than genome sequencing, Lessells said. Preliminary evidence from these tests suggest that B.1.1.529 is spreading much wider than Gauteng. “It gives us concern that this variant may already be circulating quite widely in the country,” Lessells said.
Vaccine effectiveness


To understand the threat B.1.1.529 poses, researchers will be closely tracking its spread in South Africa and beyond. Researchers in South Africa mobilized efforts to quickly study the Beta variant, identified there in late 2020, and a similar effort is starting to study B.1.1.529.

Moore’s team — which provided some of the first data on Beta’s ability to dodge immunity — has begun work on B.1.1.529. They plan to test the virus’s ability to evade infection-blocking antibodies, as well as other immune responses. The variant harbours a high number of mutations in regions of the spike protein that antibodies recognize, potentially dampening their potency. “Many mutations we know are problematic, but many more look like they are likely contributing to further evasion,” says Moore. There are even hints from computer modelling that B.1.1.529 could dodge immunity conferred by another component of the immune system called T cells, says Moore. Her team hopes to have its first results in two weeks.

“A burning question is does it reduce vaccine effectiveness, because it has so many changes,” says Aris Katzourakis, who studies virus evolution at the University of Oxford, UK. Moore says breakthrough infections have been reported in South Africa among people who received any of the three kinds of vaccines in use there, from Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer-BioNtech or Oxford-AstraZeneca. Two quarantined travellers in Hong Kong who have tested positive for the variant were vaccinated with the Pfizer jab, according to news reports. One individual had travelled from South Africa, while the other was infected during hotel quarantine.

Researchers in South Africa will also study whether B.1.1.529 causes disease that is more severe or milder than other variants produce, Lessells said. “The really key question comes around disease severity.”

So far, the threat B.1.1.529 poses beyond South Africa is far from clear, researchers say. It is unclear whether the variant is more transmissible than Delta, says Moore, because there are currently low numbers of COVID-19 cases in South Africa. “We’re in a lull,” she says. Katzourakis says that countries where Delta is highly prevalent should be watching for signs of B.1.1.529. “We need to see what this virus does in terms of competitive success and whether it will increase in prevalence.”

I've been telling y'all these leaky vaccines are causing the variants. This strain has over 30 mutations on the spike protein - that's what happens when you make a leaky vaccine keyed in on just one single spike protein. Crisis of the vaccinated.

[Mountain Man]

Another new strain: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03552-w


I've been telling y'all these leaky vaccines are causing the variants. This strain has over 30 mutations on the spike protein - that's what happens when you make a leaky vaccine keyed in on just one single spike protein. Crisis of the vaccinated.

If only there was some way to conduct vaccine trials in order to detect these kinds problems before indiscriminately injecting the vaccine in anybody willing to roll up their sleeve.

[stfoskey15]

Another new strain: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03552-w


I've been telling y'all these leaky vaccines are causing the variants. This strain has over 30 mutations on the spike protein - that's what happens when you make a leaky vaccine keyed in on just one single spike protein. Crisis of the vaccinated.

South Africa is only around 25% fully vaccinated.

[Gondwanaland]

South Africa is only around 25% fully vaccinated.

And?

[seanD]

Another new strain: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03552-w


I've been telling y'all these leaky vaccines are causing the variants. This strain has over 30 mutations on the spike protein - that's what happens when you make a leaky vaccine keyed in on just one single spike protein. Crisis of the vaccinated.

Lockdown here in the states by the beginning of next year?

I was wrong about there being lockdowns this year, so I'm hoping I'm wrong again. But I'm certain Biden admin is going to turn up the authoritarian notch.

[Thoughtful Monk]

Lockdown here in the states by the beginning of next year?

I was wrong about there being lockdowns this year, so I'm hoping I'm wrong again. But I'm certain Biden admin is going to turn up the authoritarian notch.

Won't be surprised in my state although it may be at the county level. Next county over just reinstated a mask mandate. Omicron and the unvaccinated will be the excuse.

[seanD]