The idea is that China has a total Covid supression policy, (like NZ and Oz) not a management strategy. The Uk is getting closer to accepting Covid as part of every day life. China is not. The scale and nature of their country does mean that bad infection would be more devasting and hard to manage if it got out of hand. As with political revolt.
Did anyone catch an item on World Service radio today re deforestation and the increasing likelihood of animal virus/disease becoming transmissable to humans ? The suggestion is that as deforestation continues, animal habitat decreases and as a result,they are far more likely to come into contact with humans. If, as has been suggested more than once, that the Covid virus was due to wild animal species ( bats and pangolins were mentioned ) being in close contact due to markets, etc., it would follow that we may be open to other virus transmissions in the future. It's the first time I have heard Deforestation and Virus being mentioned together but maybe food for thought ? No scientific knowledge and not a fan of Conspiracy Theories either but perhaps someone with a bit more knowledge will be able to comment ?
I think it's a given that there will be more viruses in the future but I'm not even going to go there. There's too much worry and fright right now, we need some hope that our future will be better not worse.
You are probably quite right @Lizzie27 - I only raised the subject because deforestation is continuing at an alarming pace worldwide and if correct, it may not be something which most people "put together". There's nothing quite like a reminder that we are not only knocking off our wildlife at the same time as our environment but that we are also risking our own species. Humans after all are quite good at the selfish attitude. Just hoping for the best these days is not really going to solve the problem. On reflection tho, less humans must be what an awful lot of other species are praying for
Is omicron 'less serious'? I'm not sure the messaging is right still.
Is there any data yet that shows that omicron isn't as damaging as any other variant in a non-vaccinated, non-immune population?
It seems (to me) that it's not that the variant isn't as serious, just that the circumstances are now different (vaccines, more people having immunity through infection, better hospital treatment) and the terminology used seems to lend credence to the people who don't want the vaccine - the '...Oh, I don't need the vaccine now, as omicron isn't serious...' stance.
Science only knows what it knows at a point in time. I still haven't seen research on unvaccinated and non-infected populations over the age groups to see how 'serious' the omicron variant is (and presumably that can only be known from live infection data as I'm not sure ethics would smile upon infecting susceptible people intentionally). https://www.science.org/content/article/omicron-cases-are-exploding-scientists-still-don-t-know-how-bad-wave-will-be seems to echo that. The issue - after vaccinations and large proportions of a population contracting the illness, the age demographic of those infected, the age group demographic of those showing the severest symptoms etc - is that you don't see the true effect of any illness on a 'virgin' population. So a variant may 'seem' less serious - but it's a toss up between the variant being intrinsically less symptomatically serious and the effectiveness of immunity and therapeutics and which age groups are being infected. If Chris W was right and the virus is moving up the age groups, then maybe one of the variables will be addressed over the next week or so. Personally, I don't think you can say yet that omicron is 'less serious' unless you qualify that by saying 'in our vaccinated and pre-infected population'.
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The suggestion is that as deforestation continues, animal habitat decreases and as a result,they are far more likely to come into contact with humans.
If, as has been suggested more than once, that the Covid virus was due to wild animal species ( bats and pangolins were mentioned ) being in close contact due to markets, etc., it would follow that we may be open to other virus transmissions in the future.
It's the first time I have heard Deforestation and Virus being mentioned together but maybe food for thought ?
No scientific knowledge and not a fan of Conspiracy Theories either but perhaps someone with a bit more knowledge will be able to comment ?
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
There's nothing quite like a reminder that we are not only knocking off our wildlife at the same time as our environment but that we are also risking our own species. Humans after all are quite good at the selfish attitude. Just hoping for the best these days is not really going to solve the problem.
On reflection tho, less humans must be what an awful lot of other species are praying for
https://uk.yahoo.com/news/john-o-looney-piers-corbyn-anti-vaxxer-covid-vaccine-coronavirus-162233353.html
I bet the staff who have to look after him are thrilled too.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...