4 ms·

I don't know why you're faulting the reporting, as opposed to–possibly–the institution making the announcement. They convened a (virtual) press conference, afte

I don't know why you're faulting the reporting, as opposed to–possibly–the institution making the announcement. They convened a (virtual) press conference, after all. The report also does not state anything factually wrong. Any "meaning" you fear people may or may not assign to it so far only exists in your head. The two cases being several months apart also points to at least some significance of this strain. It's far less likely for such a set of mutations to independently happen twice.

rurban 6y ago
The report fails to address the non-importance of a new variant. Every single new infection introduces around 3 new mutations into the derived virii to infect others in the next 5 days. Around 95% of these mutations are deletions, leading to less severity and higher transmissibility. So why is now higher transmissibility newsworthy? Do they report that a rice bag fell to ground in China? No, obviously not. So if we estimate around 2 million infections so far, we can estimate 15 million mutations, if which around 6m infected someone. So they caught 2 of those 6m in Africa. Great reporting! They could have caught them in their local hospital also. Hundreds!
- Jon_Lowtek 6y ago
  Detailed knowledge about microbiology and genetics also means that smaller variations are found more often. A new variant of this strain might not be "the most interesting news of the day" unless you are a scientists working with the virus, but think about it: a hundred years ago most doctors could not tell if you had the flu or the rona, due to similar macroscopic symptoms, yet for a geneticist those are as related as a human and a fish. Personally if find "nigerian cdc can sequence viral rna and detect new variants" is good news. Shows that the gap is closing.

4 ms·

I don't know why you're faulting the reporting, as opposed to–possibly–the institution making the announcement. They convened a (virtual) press conference, afte

by IfOnlyYouKnew 6y ago

rurban 6y ago
The report fails to address the non-importance of a new variant. Every single new infection introduces around 3 new mutations into the derived virii to infect others in the next 5 days. Around 95% of these mutations are deletions, leading to less severity and higher transmissibility. So why is now higher transmissibility newsworthy? Do they report that a rice bag fell to ground in China? No, obviously not. So if we estimate around 2 million infections so far, we can estimate 15 million mutations, if which around 6m infected someone. So they caught 2 of those 6m in Africa. Great reporting! They could have caught them in their local hospital also. Hundreds!
- Jon_Lowtek 6y ago
  Detailed knowledge about microbiology and genetics also means that smaller variations are found more often. A new variant of this strain might not be "the most interesting news of the day" unless you are a scientists working with the virus, but think about it: a hundred years ago most doctors could not tell if you had the flu or the rona, due to similar macroscopic symptoms, yet for a geneticist those are as related as a human and a fish. Personally if find "nigerian cdc can sequence viral rna and detect new variants" is good news. Shows that the gap is closing.