Darnell Clayton :verified:
I have not been able to verify this (so take it with a massive grain of salt & it’s okay to be skeptical about it), but there might be another #COVID outbreak in #China ?? right now. There are reports of a new #Omicron variant spreading.
The government has not been updating stats, so anecdotal evidence is all we have.
Right now hostipals are filling up & (scarily) long lines to many funeral homes.
Darnell Clayton :verified:
@davidgarywood I have seen past reports claiming 90% of #China ?? is vaccinated.
?? https://time.com/6243550/china-covid-19-vaccines-elderly/
I wonder if the vaccine is no longer effective‽
Dave ✨
@darnell hard to say.
It could also be the effect of known omicron strains on a population that isn’t that well vaccinated. We have seen this sort of impact in the USA, and other western countries in the last nearly 3 years too.
The next variants are just as likely to come from the USA, UK, etc as China, given the lack of mitigations
Darnell Clayton :verified:
@roadriverrail @davidgarywood NPR has written an article about this: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/12/30/1143696652/chinas-covid-vaccines-do-the-jabs-do-the-job
The #COVID vaccine in #China ?? is only slightly less effective. But a booster shot is still effective against most strains. I am wondering if a new strain has emerged‽
Kit Rhett Aultman
@davidgarywood @darnell I've heard (can't recall where and thus can't give a reference to confirm) that China's vaccine is a significantly less effective one.
Dave ✨
@darnell I’d read it was quite low! But looking at it, yes, they got to that 90% range ?
The vaccine’s effects wane, so that may be part of things here. One of the reasons we’ve had boosters (immune compromised, I’ve had 4 jabs for COVID so far), I’d also not consider myself fully covered by those jabs as it’s been 5 months since my last one.
It is, of course, possible it’s a variant going on over there too
Dr Arouet :infinity_rainbow:
@darnell @roadriverrail @davidgarywood Any large number of infections is dangerous, of course. However, I'd say that we're simply seeing the effect of large numbers here. 99 % protection against severere disease still means *lots* of people in hospitals - and it's by far lower than 99 %.
New variants are more immune evasive, the efficacy against hospitalization is waning over time for every vaccine so the factors are simply piling up.
Finch
@darnell There are obviously a massive number of Covid-19 infections in China right now, but the idea that it's more of a threat to the West than the West is to itself, which is what western governments and media are saying, seems to me to be a racist smokescreen erected to deflect from what is being unleashed here as a result of our "let it rip" policies. (I'm in the UK btw).
My understanding, bearing in mind I'm not a scientist, is that a recombinant variant, XBB 1.5, which is both highly immune evasive (including evading nearly all the protection of the bivalent), more infectious than previous variants and as severe as Delta may be about to make the Covid-19 situation even worse than it already is. This variant is so significantly different from the other Omicron variants that it really should have its own name. It originated in New York, not China, where it took just 3 weeks to become the dominant variant. It's now spread to a host of other countries.
Especially if you're immunocompromised, please take great care as this month and next may prove catastrophic.
Darnell Clayton :verified:
@CarolynStirling @Finch Last I checked the US policy was if you are vaccinated you do not have to be tested (unless you are coming from #China ?? apparently, which is odd). If you are not vaccinated then you have to be tested & quarantined.
A good site to checkout is Airheart (https://airheart.com/) for the latest travel restrictions worldwide.
Ngati Pakeha Kuia
@Finch @darnell Shouldn’t it be USA travellers being tested as they have a new variant causing concern? It’s “let it rip”
In my Country. I see no advantage to testing Travellers from China when we have plague laden cruise ships arriving at our major Ports.
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