New COVID Omicron Subvariant

Here we go again, XBB.1.5 subvariant is spreading like wildfire:

https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/new-covid-omicron-subvariant-xbb-1-5-spreading-wildfire-us-health-experts-reveal-why

How long before moving freight slows down again ???

This isn't what most of us would call catastrophic news, but, OTOH, it is a very slow moving disaster, in its own way.

Men In Black wrote:Don't show green, don't show green...

The COVID19 virus has become "recombinant."

This isn't something unheard of, since the flu virus is recombinant, but we were hoping we wouldn't see this behavior in COVID19. There were some people who didn't think it was possible. (Of course, there were also some fearmongers who said it would make a hybrid supervirus by crossbreeding with the flu, which is not possible.)

https://afludiary.blogspot.com/2023/05/who-recommends-switching-to-monovalent.html

It means the virus will begin coming in waves, each a little different than the previous one, just like the seasonal flu. Some waves may be milder, some worse. It also means Big Pharma will see $$ for an annual COVID shot, the way they market the flu shot (but, with a bigger profit margin, since this is newer and scarier).

afludiary wrote:All of the COVID vaccines currently used around the world are either based on either the original 2020 strain - or are bivalent vaccines with an added BA.1 or BA.4/BA.5 component - all of which are pretty much extinct in the wild today.

Currently the new, recombinant strain of covid19 is creating chaos for Taiwan. News of deaths is probably "overly sensationalized" and the virus will probably not do as well in lightly populated areas like rural US.

But, while we shouldn't panick, since we don't know what the virus will do, next this is something we need to keep our eyes on, and stay prepared.

https://afludiary.blogspot.com/2023/05/taiwan-cdc-warns-of-increasing-covid.html

While not exactly declaring victory over the pandemic, most countries have opted for an uneasy truce with the virus, gambling that existing immunity and the relatively `mild' impact of Omicron would blunt future outbreaks.

The virus, however, never signed on to this plan and is surging once again in parts of Asia. Eleven days ago in Hong Kongs COVID Resurgence, we saw a roughly 10-fold increase in cases over the past 6 weeks, while the WHO has reported sharp increases in Southeast Asia in recent weeks.

Today - in sharp contrast to 3 weeks ago - Taiwan is reporting increasing numbers of hospitalizations (and deaths) as XBB variants continue to increase their hold on the nation.

Well, a new variant "BA.2.86" is making its way into the US.

Already, the fear mongering is rampant, with the MSM news trying to scare us, and at least some places masking up.

https://vigilantnews.com/post/jesse-watters-exposes-embarrassing-covid-stats-that-the-media-doesnt-want-you-to-know-about

“There are more people hospitalized for falling down than are hospitalized for COVID right now,” Watters refuted. “Six thousand more people are in the hospital because they tripped and fell than got COVID. NBC News isn’t telling everybody to start buying walkers and canes. But real data is the enemy of politicians seeking total control. The less you know, the easier you are to subjugate.”

When you hear, from the government or big pharma, good news about the virus or bad news about the vaccine, believe it. When you hear bad news about the virus, or good news about the vaccine: approach with great skepticism.

Sadly, this is where we are today. It is more likely the government and big pharma will lie to you to control you and make profits, and less likely they will tell you the truth. Flipping a coin may be more a more reliable indicator of truth than the government or big pharma.
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How many cases:

https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/new-covid-variant-detected-in-us-what-to-know-about-ba-2-86

The World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced last week it's tracking a new variant of COVID-19 called BA.2.86 that was first detected on July 24.

OK, this gives us a mathematical baseline. Assume there were 100 cases, when the first was detected. (This worked well for the original strain.) Giving the virus a little extra leeway, we will say it doubles every 3 days (possible, but not likely). That would mean there are about 100,000 cases, worldwide.

That is pretty much worst case scenario.

How many hospitalizations?
Pessimistically 0.1% ?
Not likely to be more, so we are back to 100 cases, in the hospitals.

Looking at other literature:
https://afludiary.blogspot.com/2023/08/cdc-initial-risk-assessment-on-covid.html

A lineage is a "group of closely related viruses with a common ancestor," according to the CDC. A lineage might be designated by WHO as a "variant being monitored" due to "shared attributes and characteristics that may require public health action."

The CDC said new variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 will continue to occur.

"Viruses constantly change through mutation and sometimes these mutations result in a new variant of the virus," the CDC said. "Some changes and mutations allow the virus to spread more easily or make it resistant to treatments or vaccines. As the virus spreads, it may change and become harder to stop."

Bottom line is we don't know much about this new "linage" except that the old vaccines won't work, and the new ones might not, either. It doesn't seem to be any worse than the least bad strains in the past.

Social distancing works.
Masking helps, somewhat, but don't get crazy.
We will probably see something like this, every winter.

Yep, this will happen every year, just like the flu.

That quack (Dr. Gottlieb, former FDA commissioner and has his fingers in Pfizer, is pushing a vaccine already.

rick1 wrote:Yep, this will happen every year, just like the flu.

That quack [in your opinion, of course, for legal reasons] Dr. Gottlieb, former FDA commissioner and has his fingers in Pfizer, is pushing a vaccine already.

I think the (IMHO) false advertisement I saw was from Moderna. They stated the fifth leading cause of death is Covid, and I suspect their defense is that they were using the 2020 or maybe the 2021 stats. Of course, the CDC (which appears to be in the pocket of Leftists and big Pharma) has (conveniently) not published stats for 2022 (I can't even find 2021).

It appears to a hard sell on a vaccine that is, most likely, near worthless, for most of us.

I went over to Media Matters, to find the doctors that they hate the most. I figured that was a good start, too find which doctors we should listen to.

(If the Left hates them, they must be good.)
https www mediamatters org/fox-news/dishonest-doctors-who-were-fox-news-most-frequent-medical-guests-2021-0

Siegel
Holds a medical degree and teaches clinical medicine at New York University’s Langone Medical Center, where he is also a practicing internist.
His 2005 book False Alarm: The Truth About the Epidemic of Fear blamed government, media, and pharmaceutical companies for “artificially” producing a panic from threats of disease.
As a bonus, Harvard also hates him.

Dr. Martin “Marty” Makary
Holds a masters degree in public health, and professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins University. Recognized that there is “no compelling case” for vaccinating “healthy” children and claimed that he is “not aware of a single healthy child in the U.S. who has died of COVID-19.

Dr. Nicole Saphier
Has also long advocated against government intervention in public health.
Saphier’s foundational views of medicine and health, outlined in her many books, blame individual people for “bad behaviors” and big government for causing health crises. She has also argued against vaccinating “young” or “healthy” people, including children.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)
I think we all know him.

I think that will be enough for now.
We can add more, later.

We need to have known good medical advisers, to counter the (IMHO) quacks the government and MSM put forth.

The COVID clowns are back:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-mask-mandate-variants-cases-rising/

https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2023-08-25/biden-administration-eyes-mid-september-for-new-covid-19-booster-shot-rollout

rick1 wrote:The COVID clowns are back:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-mask-mandate-variants-cases-rising/

https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2023-08-25/biden-administration-eyes-mid-september-for-new-covid-19-booster-shot-rollout

A few dozen (out of a list of 1215) "Universities" (institutes of Leftist indoctrination) are requiring vaccines:
https://reason.com/2023/08/22/dozens-of-colleges-still-require-covid-vaccines-for-students/

Over three years after the advent of the coronavirus pandemic, educational mask and vaccine mandates are increasingly uncommon. However, as the new school year is set to begin, a handful of colleges remain holdouts, especially when it comes to COVID vaccine mandates for incoming students.

We have known for two years, vaccines do nothing to stop the spread, and masks don't work (at all) in places like classroom settings. We have also known, for two years, that virtually no one under 25 is at risk of permanent damage from the virus, and no one has shown the new vaccines to be any safer than the old ones, which we now know cause damage to young people.

This is hard evidence that those colleges that require students to be vaccinated or wear a mask really are not in the education business, but are in business of taking money and turning out Leftists.

Need to add Dr Scott Atlas to the above list of trusted medical experts and advisors. The articles below give a picture of why we should trust him, and the Deep State hates him.

Nov 30, 2020 https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dr-scott-atlas-resigns-special-adviser-trump-coronavirus

Atlas was considered a Special Government Employee (SGE) serving a 130-day detail, which expires this week.

... my advice was always focused on minimizing all the harms from both the pandemic and the structural policies themselves, especially to the working class and the poor.”

Atlas, who had been criticized throughout his tenure for calling for a reopening, and saying that lockdowns are “extremely harmful” to Americans, said that “although some may disagree with those recommendations, it is the free exchange of ideas that lead to scientific truths, which are the very foundation of a civilized society.”

“Indeed, I cannot think of a time where safeguarding science and the scientific debate is more urgent,” Atlas said.

Dec 22, 2020 https://www.foxnews.com/media/scott-atlas-federal-government-media-coronavirus-misinformation

Dr. Scott W. Atlas, a former special adviser to President Trump, blasted the mainstream media for pushing misinformation that allows Americans to falsely believe the federal government is responsible for all coronavirus-related issues.

"America has been paralyzed by death and fear for nearly a year, and the politicization of the pandemic has made things worse by adding misinformation and vitriol to the mix. With vaccines finally being administered, we should be entering a joyous phase. Instead we endure still more inflammatory rhetoric and media distortion," Atlas wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Tuesday.

Just a note here: at the time of the above articles, Dr Scott Atlas still did not understand just how evil the Deep State and Big Pharma tend to be. I think, by the time the following articles were published, he was a lot more aware.

(sep 6 2023) https://www.foxnews.com/video/6336704649112
(This article is in video)

Dr. Scott Atlas: They have personally destroyed public confidence in public health.
Former Trump White House COVID adviser Dr. Scott Atlas calls out Biden administration coronavirus policies and guidance on 'The Ingraham Angle.'

(Sep 8 2023)
https://www.newsmax.com/newsmax-tv/covid-scientists-pharma/2023/09/08/id/1133816/

Doctors and scientists who vote on Food and Drug Administration drug approvals have received paychecks from Big Pharma "for decades," Dr. Scott Atlas, former special adviser to former President Donald Trump, told Newsmax on Friday.

"This is not new; this has been going on for decades," Atlas said during an appearance on Newsmax's "Carl Higbie FRONTLINE."

"There's been data published. The journal of Science published a study from 2008 to 2014. There [were] 107 doctors and scientists voting on FDA drug approvals, and about a quarter of them had received over $100,000 and six of them over $1 million dollars from the same drug companies they voted on," he added.

Beginning with Omicron, Covid19 became "recombinant" in the same way that the flu viruses are recombinant. But, they spread faster and, therefore, mutate faster.

https://theconversation.com/how-evasive-and-transmissible-is-the-newest-omicron-offshoot-ba-2-86-that-causes-covid-19-4-questions-answered-212453

The emergence of BA.2.86 underscores the need for flexibility in current vaccine strategies to ensure continued effectiveness against these new variants. The newly FDA-approved fall 2023 COVID-19 booster shots are formulated to target XBB.1.5, which was dominant in early 2023 when public health officials made the reformulation decisions. The 2022 booster shot was designed to target both the original strain of SARS-CoV-2 as well as the BA.4 and BA.5 omicron lineages.

Basically, we are now on a treadmill of vaccinating for the past variants, and the vaccine will have questionable value for the current variants.

The good news is that the newest variants don't seem as bad as the oldest ones.

My advice has only changed a little.
I advise getting vaccinated if you are over 60, or have some other factor, like heart disease, diabetes, obesity or high blood pressure.

Otherwise I wouldn't bother.

But, that's just me: YMMV.
(Your Mileage May Vary)
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Throughout the year 2022, I had many substantial conversations about Covid19, the Vaccines and who to trust.

One of those conversations is here:
https://www.city-data.com/forum/politics-other-controversies/3375405-covid-chaos-officially-over-cdc-waves-8.html#post63976835
I made three posts in a row, that day.
Most of the rest of the thread isn't really worth much.