3 ms·
Dr Angelique Coetzee, chairwoman of the South African Medical Association: “It’s all speculation at this stage. It may be it’s highly transmissible, but so far
by dadjoker 5y ago
Dr Angelique Coetzee, chairwoman of the South African Medical Association:
“It’s all speculation at this stage. It may be it’s highly transmissible, but so far the cases we are seeing are extremely mild,” she said. “Maybe two weeks from now I will have a different opinion, but this is what we are seeing. So are we seriously worried? No. We are concerned and we watch what’s happening. But for now we’re saying, ‘OK: there’s a whole hype out there. [We’re] not sure why.’”
- colordrops 5y agoIf it turns out that it is indeed extremely mild, does not cause deaths, and an infection with it confers immunity to covid in general, shouldn't it be allowed to run like wildfire?
- 1270018080 5y agoI don't think we can choose which variant infects people
- karlicoss 5y agoin addition it can probably mutate back up in terms of severity? although I believe geneticists have some framework to estimate/predict likelihood of that
- m4rtink 5y agoEven if it really was like that, there are still good reasons for not allowing that - if there is still a chance it can kill people, there would still be considerable bodycount if it really is more transmissible and many people get infected at once (overloaded hospitals). Mild symphtoms also still don't say anything about possible long term damage that might only become aparent later. And lastly, infecting so many new hosts opens the possibility of creating a more deadly variants, just by pure chance, due to so much virus replication going on in the hosts.
- colordrops 5y ago> And lastly, infecting so many new hosts opens the possibility of creating a more deadly variants, just by pure chance, due to so much virus replication going on in the hosts. Isn't this true of the flu as well?
- m4rtink 5y agoI guess ? I wonder whats the magnitude of flu infections vs covid in absolute numbers. Also I guess not all viruses mutate in the same way?
- Gibbon1 5y agoThe flu can easily mutate via reassortment because it's genome is segmented and there is a huge reservoir or human and animal strains. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reassortment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reassortment
- seoaeu 5y agoIn the very unlikely event it actually had a 0.00% death rate that would be the most likely response (because places would lift all their restrictions). The harder question is what to do if it is milder than delta, but still potentially deadly
- IgorPartola 5y agoPresumably you develop a vaccine that targets this variant and give it to the most vulnerable while those outside the risk group don’t need it. That’s how rabies vaccine works: most people don’t get it but those who work with animals may since they are at an increased risk.