Get booster shots to avoid COVID catastrophe
John Snow writes: I’m a scientist. I’m worried. Very worried. I feel these islands are sleepwalking into a catastrophe greater than anything in living memory, greater even than Ivan or the ’32 Storm. We are on the verge of a national crisis that can be seen as clearly as an approaching hurricane and no one wants to talk about it. Omicron is coming to these islands — it is probably already here — and every day we spend thinking of Christmas and hoping it will go away is another day wasted, a day that in a few weeks time, we could bitterly come to regret.
We are on the verge of a national disaster that has been ignored here for over two weeks, a national disaster that we could be mitigating. Lives can be saved and every day we ignore it, lives will be lost.
If Omicron seems like just another COVID-19 scare that we will ride out, believe me, it isn’t. It is very different to what we are used to. This one spreads like wildfire. The number of cases doubles every two days.
You might know the story of the grains of rice on a chessboard: put one on the first, double it to two on the next and double it each time. Well, before we get to the last square the world runs out of rice. This is what exponential growth looks like. What this means for the islands is that unless we reduce the number of people spreading the virus and getting very seriously ill, Cayman runs out of ventilators, and it does it surprisingly soon.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Unfortunately, this virus not only spreads like wildfire, it also evades most of our vaccine protection. It is the perfect storm. If you are double vaccinated, your immunity to infection, we think, drops off from around 90% to 10% (using the best data we currently have).
That said, you are still much less likely to get seriously ill. The good news, though, and our hope for a different outcome is that we can boost our vaccine protection quite easily by getting a booster jab. It’s not perfect, maybe only up to 75%, but that is way better than the alternative.
In short, we need to get boosted.
We need our politicians to stop sleepwalking into a disaster.
We need a national campaign to get boosted before it spreads through us, with cases every other day until the hospitals run out of staff because they are too ill to work and run out of beds because they are full of terrified people desperately trying just to breathe. People like your family and friends.
And for those of you who, for whatever reason, are refusing to vaccinate, know this: you will fill those beds, you will fill those ventilators, at which point half of you on ventilators will die. But worse, you will have denied hospital care for those people who did the right thing, who took the jab, who protected their families, their friends, their community, their country.
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Category: Health, Medical Health, Viewpoint
Hope for the best.
Plan for the worst.
Millions of monarch butterflies that migrate each winter to the fir forests of Mexico’s Central Highlands are much smarter than the average human scientist.
Have you heard that…. horseshoe crabs could go to extinct because their blood is being used in Covid vaccines and for drug testing: Up to 30% of the crustaceans have already been killed off in the US https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-10321773/Horseshoe-crab-BLOOD-high-demand-vaccine-drug-testing-extinct.html
Bad news. 2 jabs not enough, get boosted. Prior infection not enough. Get vaccinated and boosted. And no evidence it’s less severe than Delta. Hospitalisations lag cases so we will know more in two weeks.
Via Imperial College London public health scientists
“The Omicron variant largely evades immunity from past infection or two vaccine doses according to the latest Imperial modelling.
The study finds no evidence of Omicron having lower severity than Delta, judged by either the proportion of people testing positive who report symptoms, or by the proportion of cases seeking hospital care after infection. However, hospitalisation data remains very limited at this time.”
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/232698/modelling-suggests-rapid-spread-omicron-england/
The vaccinations just don’t last all that long. Probably never will. Same reason there’s no vaccine for the common cold which is corona virus.
Most colds are caused by rhinoviruses.
For those with faith Covid is on its way out all by itself. Patience. For those without get as many Boosters as you can. May you all live to see the reason for this lesson.
My body, my choice! Who are you to tell people what to get from not what to get? Many scientists have already proven that this new variant is not worst than the Delta variant because, it only gives you the common cold and flu so far and still many more research has to be done about it. STOP! Putting fear in our people!!! What you really need to be concern about is where this government has been for the last few weeks, and why they knowingly deserted their own Caymanian people by not keeping up to date with covid-19 information briefings to the public!
More importantly, why not talk about how “immigration, and “Travel Cayman,” is handling this dire situation at the airport! Let’s talk about how they’re letting some people through by just asking them if they have the shot and if their answer is “yes, without showing them any proper documentations they just let them through! While others are being stop, showing their proper paperwork. They’re being very selective and it’s not fair! I, have along with many others have witness this serious matter and yet you asked why? this new variant has gotten through here??? Lack of leadership, no sense of control and untrained staff! Cayman, if you all don’t get a grip of what’s going on at that airport your lives will definitely be in danger! This is where it starts!!!
It sounds like you rely on a lot of bad info sources. Inbound travelers can’t check-in or board the aircraft without a negative PCR in preceding 72hrs. Now they also need a 10 min self-administered LFT negative within 24hrs of travel. Not a big deal. Vaccinated need to get a LFT on day 2, 5, and 10. Unvaccinated stay in quarantine until negatived out. Clear your browser cashe and start learning about survival odds, then get your cost free dose. You also need to distance from current advisors.
Dear Scientist
CDC has disclosed that 80% of Omicron cases are fully vaccinated…even boostered ones
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/most-reported-us-omicron-cases-have-hit-fully-vaccinated-cdc-2021-12-10/
I’m a scientist? A doctor? A nuclear physicist? A bio chemist?
A biologist? Curious way of putting it – not sure I know any “scientists” who describe themselves as a “scientist” rather than sating exactly what kind of scientific profession they are in. BS meter off the scale.
Just when you think it’s peace and safety………….
Here’s latest info on omicron: fully vaccinated people may be as vulnerable to omicron as non vaccinated but will likely not get sick enough to he hospitalized:
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/doctor-says-fully-vaccinated-people-193332060.html
We still won’t know who has it. This time everyone can get it. Doesn’t matter how we feel about our own personal survival chances, the objective should be not to be a goon and pass it along. Let’s mask up properly, and make 6 feet cool again, please. Not that hard to be a good citizen!
They are going to close all businesses at midnight?
WTF has this have to do with covid? Does it only come out at midnight. Clowns
Yeah it doesn’t make sense. People will just go out earlier and congregate for the same amount.
If you do want to get COVID, recommend you go to a packed indoor bar in the next couple weeks.
Hey Everyone. I wish articles like this would stop the scare tactics. Here in the US we have learned to live with Covid. Not run from it or be scared of it. Get Vaccinated. Get a booster every 6 months. Wear mask and socially distance and be careful if you have a medical condition. We are not scared of it and we don’t lock down and throw people in jail for breaking lock downs. My hope is that Cayman will learn the same lessons now.
From the country with 800,000 dead from Covid and the highest infection rate on the planet.
Sand grain versus total recovery.
Countries like Russia, China, and India have hidden their true casualty numbers. Those countries have death rates much higher then is generally known.
Your example of living with covid is hardly something to be proud of or to set as an example. Hundreds of thousands of people dead, many of them unnecessary. And your insane anti-mask, anti-vax, personal freedom nonsense has killed many too. And you have plenty of people scared of covid; all of those who are in hospital struggling to breathe for one. They are pretty scared I think.
I think we will continue to be cautious and protect our people from serious illness, long covid and death as best we can.
In the meantime, please don’t even think of coming here and spreading your germs.
Well, minus the 800,000+ that couldn’t live with Covid. 266 x 9/11 and counting.
And in the USA you have, what: almost 20 times the Covid mortality rate of the Cayman Islands? Learning to happily live with that much excess death is the lifestyle of morons. With over three times the global average Covid mortality rate, the pro-death American way of handling Covid is hardly a shining example for us to follow. Got any more bright ideas? If so, please keep them to yourself.
It’s true, the boozers stop caring about distancing by around 6pm on paydays. Just close all the bars to help them help us.
Is the government using Covid as an excuse to exercise control over the us? I can get just as much covid up to midnight as I can at 2a.m. This is kinda stupid i have to say.
Some who get their information from Twitter and Youtube seem to think that the Omicron coming here is different from Omicron in other countries in that it is nothing to worry about. This is the view in Ontario which is busy imposing new restrictions:
Ontario’s COVID-19 science table on Thursday called for immediate and stringent public health measures to combat a growing surge of the Omicron variant that could see ICU admissions reach “unsustainable levels” early next year.
The group’s latest modelling suggests that without “circuit breaker” restrictions to reduce social contacts by about 50 per cent, booster shots alone will likely not be enough to stop daily cases reaching between 6,000 and more than 10,000 per day by the end of 2021.”
Omicron denial and associated stupidity is in full swing. Got to give credit to the profits first people. They got ahead of government on this one.
Bravo. Totally agree with you.
For those who think that Omicron is a fiction check out what is happening in Florida.
“In the US the Omicron variant has surpassed Delta in collections taken from wastewater samples in Orange County, Florida, officials said.
Despite few confirmed clinical infections, wastewater samples showed the new variant is now the dominant strain. Omicron represented almost 100% of strains from wastewater facilities in a sampling this week, Orange County Utilities spokesperson Sarah Lux told AP.
Orange County is home to tourist attractions like Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando.”
If Omicron has surpassed Delta as the dominant strain, that’s good news, as it has much milder symptoms!
Generally viruses mutate to become more transmissible but less deadly, until eventually we won’t have to worry about them at all. This could signal the end of the pandemic.
4:54, Scientists said many times earlier this year that if there was not a level of vaccination of between 80 and 90% in the general population the virus would keep mutating. In the USA the vaccine rate today is 62%.
We are nowhere out of the woods with COVID.
The virus will keep mutating even if 100% of people were vaccinated since vaccinated people still get infected. It might slow down the emergence of new variants since there are fewer hosts but there is no getting away from this virus now.
Anyone saying anything else is feeding you propaganda.
Vaccinated people who get infected and get seriously sick and hospitalized have underlying conditions.
Their numbers are very few though compared to the unvaccinated according to the American and Canadian data.
With over 50 million people in America having not even had one vaccination shot we are a long way from getting out of this situation.
Variants are going to keep emerging for a long time.
For the second year in a row America will have more deaths than births this year.
Mutations are random genetic changes that occur when the virus replicates itself. They will continue to occur as long as the virus continues to exist. The vaccines affect the rate of transmission, not the rate of mutation.
Anecdotally, like Delta, at first glance it seems to be milder in those vaccinated, and not any worse (so far) than Delta, but many many multiples of caseload at the same time spells a formula for capacity overload. We will see, all wishing your generous assumptions to be true.
finally someone on here with sense
Total rubbish. Cite one scientific source (not Twitter) that confirms your theory. The available evidence is that Omicron is going to spread along with Delta and some people will get both at the same time. Having one does not give immunity with respect to the other.
Viruses that kill their hosts quickly before transmitting it to others will generally evolve to be less deadly. The problem with covid is that this outcome is weeks later so there is little evolutionary pressure on this virus to develop in that direction. The “sweating sickness 1485-1551” was deadly within a few hours but still was lethal for decades, why and what it was is still a mystery, but it shows that this reduction in lethality was historically not always the case. (google it, it won’t cheer you up, but it will make you realise things could be a lot worse) We can hope that it is milder but it’s going to take time to figure if the effect is caused by a less deadly virus or a better protected population. I hope you are right but best to get everyone boosted. Result: No lockdowns healthcare, copes, and we return to normality in weeks. This storm will pass much quicker because it spreads so quickly, however we all have to do our bit to minimise the damage. No one wants a lockdown Christmas and more unemployment.
You mean this? https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/florida/articles/2021-12-14/what-pandemic-miami-airport-sets-thanksgiving-travel-record
Or this? https://www.wjhg.com/2021/12/15/historic-numbers-northwest-florida-beaches-international-airport/
Great Viewpoint. Thank you.
The deniers and profits before people crowd may dislike it and post negative comments but your post is absolutely spot on.
Totally agree with you. We are seeing a potentially very harmful convergence of exhaustion, apathy and lies from the profit before people folks. Omicron is dangerous. All the governments on the planet recognise that even if the cabal refuses to acknowledge the facts.
Oh stop it with the cabal nonsense. Enough conspiracy stupidity. Omicron was identified as a variant of concern by the WHO and its rapid spread in various European countries shows it is very transmissible. None of this is news. What we don’t know is whether it is more dangerous to either fully vaccinated or unvaccinated people. However the initial data suggests strongly that being vaccinated, especially with a booster shot helps significantly in reducing serious illness.
The issue with Omicron is simply the amount of people who might get infected at the same time, and the sheer numbers may overwhelm our health infrastructure. This is the primary reason everyone should be vaccinated and get their booster shot.
If you want to talk about anything talk about this before you keep on about conspiracy nonsense.
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/small-safrica-patient-study-shows-omicron-breaking-through-booster-shots-2021-12-16/
Yeah, doesnt look like being double vaxxed and boosted is gonna help with this one!
You are clearly a member of the cabal or not from here is you don’t recognise the existence of the cabal.
Guys, get yourself an unvaccinated girl. You can’t take her to a restaurant and she’s not allowed in the clubs. Follow me for more money saving advice!
There aren’t any QR entry restrictions anywhere. Also, women aren’t male property “to get”, like that should have to be relayed in 2022.
Overreaction much?
Jeez, it was a joke, not a d**k. Don’t take it so hard!
Sniffles, headaches, and tiredness appear to be the hallmarks of Omicron, according to a major study that suggests the mutant virus is more akin to a cold than Covid.
An analysis of cases in London, where Omicron is growing most rapidly, reported the most common signs of the virus between December 3 and 10 were a runny nose, headache, fatigue, sneezing, and a sore throat.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10316663/Have-got-sniffles-headache-stomach-pains-Youve-probably-got-Omicron.html
Yet, Cayman has to have a full-on panic attack and hastily make regulations. God bless us! We are at >80% vaccinated and many have had boosters.
Time for personal responsibility not government dictating what to do!
You know nothing John Snow.
Winter is coming…. 🙂
I’ll get a booster when CIG can prove to me all civil service workers have been vaccinated. So that’ll be never then? Wotes count more than lives.
Listen, This Omicron variant is not a big of a deal as Ivan for the Cayman Islands. Not by a long shot Mr. Scientist. Here’s your proof too, deaths in South Africa are low and their vaccination rate is low as well.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/south-africa/
We have nearly all adults fully vaccinated and many are getting boosted (I am as well). We just need to carry on just how we are and allow the virus to spread through the community to build natural herd immunity. Continue with masks, social distancing, and don’t frequent large indoor gatherings.
Cayman will get through this pandemic just fine with minimal deaths.
Median age in SA is 27. Where is this magical herd immunity land? Can you name a single place enjoying that peace right now? Let’s all hope our capacity can handle what’s already brewing here.
Some sense at last. Look, Covid is here to stay. It will repeatedly mutate just like the flu.
We, as a global human community, need to get vaccinated and get on with life. We cannot cede to the ridiculous restrictions any longer.
Governments in countries that have high vaccination rates need to get a grip.
Obviously…not.
Antivaxxers are waiting to be hooked up to ventilation before taking the vaccine. Too late!
I lost you at, “I’m a scientist…”
Yeah. OK “John Snow” scientist from Got and fights day walkers on the side. Lots of credible facts, but fishy and suspicious the same time.
Before he starts preaching again, I myslef have the booster, but hate when these types spread panic and unnecessary fear. Should work at CNN where viewership been falling like clockwork.
LOL on that one
Yeah Anon1, but at FOX journalists are leaving because they can’t handle continually telling lies when all their colleagues are doing the exact opposite on COVID than what they are preaching / reporting.
Just stop pissing about getting tested, that’ll bring the numbers and fearmongering down.
Thank you.
Has anyone even read the LFT packet info????
It says you shouldnt be testing unless you have symptoms…”does not diffrentiate between SARS-COV and SARS-COV-2″…..”positive results do not rule out bacterial infection or co-infection with other viruses”…”other diagnostic information is necessary to determine infection status”
Why does none of this sound very definitive yet CIG saying if you get a positive LFT its almost certain you “have Covid”??
Panic! Everyone panic!! Run for your lives! Hide your children, hide yo wives! Hide yo husbands. Bring the cat inside. batten down the hatches The end is nigh!!!!! Christ, they aren’t half trying to stir up hysteria and fear with these news article headlines… Everyone calm down ok!? If you are vaccinated you’re fine. Ideally, get the booster but this is getting beyond ridiculous at this point. Similar panicked reaction globally but very little proof that this new variant is particularly nasty. Our local outbreak with Delta didn’t overwhelm anything.. Why do you believe this strain will? I’ve gone along with all that government has asked for previously because I believed it was sensible. But I know I am not alone when I say this is getting stupid at this point. People are fed up and frustrated and just want to get on with their lives without being slapped in the face with Covid hysteria each way they turn. After a while, it starts to grate on the nerves and I honestly don’t think people will be willing to put up with this nonsense for much longer.
Hear! Hear!
Complete fear-mongering nonsense.
Have a look at this interview with a South African researcher who has been analyzing the data for Omnicron, and is very positive about the potential outcome of this variant, which could ultimately put an end to the pandemic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWrjX1ty2EU
Youtube – font of all scientific knowledge
You discount information just because it’s on YouTube? Get a brain.
I can’t tell you how many things I’ve fixed DIY from watching youtube videos. Ignorants going to ignorant.
A guy in South Africa who is an engineer has all the answers.
Great. A wonderful fountain of knowledge related to epidemiology.
He analyzed all the data, and compared it to previous variants, so yes, it would seem he does have the answers.
I completely agree with you. I’ve noticed a switch in sentiment here on CNS where people now already seem to be bored of the restrictions and warnings, and now almost welcome Omicron, believing it’s only a mild cold.
The tourism message that there is nothing to worry about, Cayman will ‘open safely’ and that the health and safety of residents is ‘our number one priority’ have been too effective. Money spent persuading everyone there was nothing to worry about should have instead been spent on public health messages educating the population what will happen when our drs and nurses become sick, our hospital beds are full, and still more people can’t breathe and need care.
I fully expect our covid outcomes for the hospitalized to be worse than the UK for example where they have greater resources, greater expertise and experience.
How long before we have so many people sick that food cannot get unloaded at the docks? Or the electricty or water supply come under threat? Or our police force and emergency services can’t cope with everyday matters? I really hope things will be just fine and life will go on as normal, but I am concerned people aren’t taking the threat seriously and are laughing it off.
People should be concerned, but it feels like I am the only one not looking on the bright side all the time.
You need to start looking on the bright side, instead of being consumed by fear. Omnicron is more transmissible, but far milder than Delta. If it spreads here, that could actually be a good thing.
Omicron covid spreading here could be a good thing? I can’t believe that anyone would think that. We have already had people die and others seriously ill due to covid. And it’s not over yet. More transmissible means more people sick all at the same time or within a quicker time period. How is any of that a good thing?
I think many have somehow been brainwashed by the idea that somehow this is all normal and we should ‘live with it’ and carry on like there is nothing to worry about. I remember what normal life was like before covid and it was nothing like this.
More people sick with mild symptoms, like those of a common cold. How is that a bad thing?
The evidence is at best mixed. Its more likely to be looking less deadly because its hitting populations with some immunity due to previous infection and vaccination, the virus itself may well be more deadly to the unvaccinated or un exposed. Which is still good news for Cayman with regards to hospitalisation. Though today’s data suggests that every person will infect on average 4 people. Which means when it hits it will hit hard and fast.
Median age in SA is 27
Ad the level of co morbidities including percentage of population with TB or immune deficiency issues is very high. Your point is what? That they are less at risk because of age?
SMH.
The negative side of that is that if thousands of cases come out of Omicron, (despite being mild) ANY deaths within 60 days of a positive – whether they were from, by, with or due to covid in any way will be counted as a “covid death” (as has been done since Day 1 on Public Health England etc) which they will use to further blow up this pandemic narrative, extend lockdowns, continue quarantining etc.
The unvaccinated (anyone with less than 2 shots or whose 2nd shot is more than 3 months old) need to be locked down right now.
CIG can provide food to be delivered by the regiment, but these people should not be allowed to leave their homes until such time as they are properly vaccinated.
Zero tolerance for antivaxers.
Zero tolerance for morons.
Zero tolerance for the wilfully diseased.
Why stop there? Take them out to sea and throw them overboard.
You are clearly a vile human being with that level of intolerance.
Willfully unvaccinated morons are a severe public health risk as they will overwhelm the available health resources due to their own stupidity.
Anyone with serious non-covid health issues will suffer. Those with heart disease. Those with cancer. Those with progressive age-related conditions.
It is time to call the willfully unvaccinated as what they really are:
Stupid.
Selfish.
Dangerous.
Lock them down now. By force.
No apologies. No mercy. No tolerance.
If we get rid of you there will be no problem for anyone else. Stupid, Selfish, Dangerous, and ignorant. Pray for tolerance and mercy for yourself.
zero tolerance for lunatics like you 10:52. Take your pills and have a lie-down, please..
The obese (anyone overweight according to the BMI standard) need to be locked down right now.
CIG can provide a structured diet to be delivered by the regiment, but these people should not be allowed to leave their homes until such time as they are taking care of themselves properly.
Zero tolerance for the obese
Zero tolerance for morons.
Zero tolerance for the wilfully diseased.
In my opinion they need help in making the choice to get vaccinated. Carrots not sticks.
By now it is well known that vaccination does not prevent spread. So, if everyone was vaccinated and has had two boosters who will you then blame?
This.
Selfish people who live like there is no virus.
It reduces spread but it is not going to stop the spread. What everyone hopes is that because of our level of vaccination the vast majority of sickness will be mild. Though the problem is it can take about a month from infection before deaths occur. It may be better than expected or worse, but by the time we know it might already be a disaster. What happens in one country could be very different for another. No one wants lockdowns border closures and our tourism sector destroyed. The issue is not about blame its about getting vaccinated so the worst case scenario doesn’t occur and we can go back to our normal lives once this wave passes over.
We had hundreds of (reported) cases of Delta a day for the last several weeks. Considering that something like 40% of cases are asymptomatic the real number per day could have been 2x higher. Society certainly didn’t collapse.
We may need to be cautious and obviously if things start to ramp up to a high level of hospitalisations the government will have to consider more stringent measures, but the reason for the switch of sentiment you’ve identified is that people have been watching a lot of TV and hearing people saying the sky is falling for 18 months now.
People like you saying “we’re not going to get food, electicity or water” is exactly why they’ve tuned out.
It’s not that reasonable people don’t realise that the health care system is at risk, it’s that they are not willing to live like this is the apocalypse for what is essentially no worse than the common cold for 99% of people.
Sensible people look at the hospitalisation rate which,for Delta, was something like .8% of known cases. Yes, .8% of 60,000 people who get seriously ill is 480 people. Yes that would overwhelm the hospital. But that assumes that everyone has the virus at the same time. Instead it’s spread out over a number of months, so say you’re looking at 50 or 75 people in the hospital each month and that’s the worst-case scenario. And that also assumes that Omicron is not milder than Delta.
This is why nobody is freaking out. Because when you look at it as a numbers game, this isn’t society-ending stuff. This isn’t no electricity, power, or water.
Not for Cayman anyway. We have a high vaccination rate and good hospital capacity for the number of people here. Your mileage may vary.
Extraordinarily poor analysis. No comprehension of exponential growth. No appreciation for fact that large scale modification of our behavior is what has kept the worst effects of the pandemic at bay so far.
Have you been out anywhere? Behaviour modification is almost non-existent.
The point being made I think, is that the normal double vax is unlikely to be as effective this time and that a third booster is really really important. If everyone gets the third booster then you are right we should be OK. The comparison with hurricanes is clearly wrong in terms of damage to infrastructure but possibly not in deaths.
We are spreading fear same as the world over.
Monitoring previews and data from communities that are days, or hopefully, weeks ahead of our approaching experience, isn’t a fearful act. Forewarned is forearmed. We will then study you when you get it (again). Must be nice not having a job to report to.
I am thee, this is no longer a game.
Please unleash me.
absolute hysterical garbage.
we just came through one of the highest rates of delta community infection in the world…with our health service under no strain.
cayman has huge levels of vaccination (but booster campaign must be stepped up)…plus cayman has huge level of naturally acquired immunity.
Better stock up on Paracetamol and bank those personal vacation days. If Delta came for the unvaccinated, Omicron is coming for all the over-confident public health orders disbelievers.
I think his point is the vaccine doesn’t really work on this one.
But, it’s interesting that he’s so sure that even if everyone gets this that it will result in running out of ventilators. That may be the case but any decent scientist would probably wait for a little more data before jumping to conclusions.
The other reality is that nobody seems to want to talk about is that the booster is likely to boost immunity but only in the short term – so you might have that 75% advantage for a couple months then it is likely to drop down again. So there’s probably nothing we can do at this stage to stop everyone from getting this short of going back to lockdowns and quarantines.
Preliminary data seems to suggest that Omicron affects the airways much more so than the lungs which, in theory, should result in fewer severe illnesses and deaths as a result of lung damage.
We’ll see. I hope he’s wrong.
Well we could sit here and wait for the data to come through, might take a few weeks, write it up. peer review it and publish it a month later. Maybe win a prize for great Science. Or we could just make a massive effort to vaccinate people. That said the data is clearly coming through on rates of infection. It is staggering. Very very bad. We don’t have the time to wait and see how hospitals will cope. Its like putting the hurricane shutters up and being prepared. Common sense at very little cost.
All are welcome to follow the public health orders… wear a mask properly, and willingly provide all non-household the 6 feet space they are due under the regulations. So simple yet elusive, even 2 years on.
https://www.caymancompass.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/CONTROL-AND-MANAGEMENT-OF-COVID-19-NO.-2-REGULATIONS-2021.pdf
Its not. Its a distinct possibility, maybe it won’t happen, maybe it will. The worst case is a temporary collapse in healthcare for a few months and multiple deaths. This is a different virus and so far we know that to avoid catching it a booster is essential. What no one knows yet, but soon will, is how ill with the virus people get. But ultimately you agree. The booster campaign must be stepped up. The article does not advocate lockdowns, just a national campaign to roll out boosters and jabs so people are more likely to not get ill or die.
Comirnaty, developed from strain from 2 years ago, should give the immune system a welcome head start, which can improve prognosis by shortening illness time and transmissibility period, and possibly warding off serious illness, or death (for as long as efficacy lasts in that individual). But we really need to stop selling it as body armour. It does not sterilise the air, or neutralise Omicron on contact. Many triple vaxed will also get infected, infect others, and get ill (missing weeks of work). That’s why we need to continue to wear masks, keep 6 feet away from non-household, wash our hands, and avoid groups. All but the last item are actually the law of the land since September. You’d never know it looking around.
pretty sure washing our hands isn’t the law.
So what you are saying is if you are double vaxxed but not boosted, Omicron is going to kill you?
Any link to your scientific findings?
Any consideration to the idea that Omicron infection may actually be a way to begin to end this pandemic through the healthy?
Any consideration to the idea that a pattern with variants and boosters is developing without an end game?
Any consideration to whether someone has already been recently infected whether vaccinated or not?
For the above concerns, I’m out.
https://theconversation.com/how-effective-are-vaccines-against-omicron-an-epidemiologist-answers-6-questions-173554
see 4 and 5 etc.
This article is fairly clear. The lancet is better but not easy reading.
The 10% figure is based on two vaccines but the last one over 26 weeks ago. Immunity drops off with time. These figures appear better, maybe 30-40%. The numbers will become more certain with time. But the point is we don’t have time.
I think the author is simply saying the less vaccine you have the greater your chance of getting seriously ill or dying. Its not going to kill everyone but it did kill my brothers wife. however, currently if you are unvaccinated you are roughly 5 times more likely to die than someone the same age as you who is vaccinated. I can’t imagine what it is like holding peoples hands in an intensive care ward and watching half your patients die, the vast majority asking for the vaccine they didn’t take and being told its too late, and then going to work every day and doing the same again. Many IC nurses are close to breaking point in Europe and US.
Jesus is the only boost I need.
Gotta love that boost.
Jesus wants you to get vaccinated because he loves you.
If he loves any of us, he wouldn’t have created Covid-19.
He didn’t, man did
Didn’t know they had vaccines in the time of Jesus.
If you don’t get vaxed you stand a greater chance of meeting him in person sooner than you think!
A voice of reason that could have been so useful weeks ago. Well said.