BristolUK

You mean a bit like how the early variants co-existed with each other, and how mutations led to Delta and they all co-existed followed by Omicron which may - just like the others - co-exist and provide further opportunities for new forms and so on.

Who knew.

Shard

I believe he was suggesting that multiple virus variants could co-exist in the individual.

BristolUK

Ah.

Shard

Sorry, it was a clip from The Sun (not C4) but it's the CMO from Moderna that's making the point.

scrubbedexpat099

printer

I'm sure that is true but are we saying that the majority of the Western World really couldn't give a rats arse about anyone else? Before COVID came along we had flu and coughs and colds every year without fail, some years causing hospitals to cancel surgeries and non urgent procedures as they became inundated. At no time during my 60 odd years on this earth in UK or Canada was i expected to wear a mask when visiting a doctors office or hospital and apart from some surgeons and some procedures carried out there was no mass mask wearing going on by any of the medical professionals or the daily visitors to the ER. Now if wearing a mask was never seen to be a necessity in a medical setting, particularly when people are being brought in feeling unwell then the thought of joe public wearing one to go grocery shopping or take a walk up the street seems even more odd to most of us who haven't been brought up in parts of Asia. I don't think freedom and liberty is the main issue, it's just something most of us have never done and still find difficult to do naturally judging by the amount of people i have witnessed turning round before entering the store to run back to the car to grab mask.
I could see a future where a mask becomes the norm in any medical setting and possibly close up personal services but not so much in stores and malls and the like.

ChrisBan

Sounds like federal government are aiming to introduce further travel restrictions to limit/stop international travel again

OrangeMango

I am triple vaccinated by now and the virus has lost it's scare to me. If I catch the virus, the illness will be a milder one.

What scares me way way more is the political reaction on travel restrictions.

I truly believe that they should let vaccinated Canadians travel without hindrance and any bureaucratic ado.

Even the UK abolished the "red listed" countries, as it simply doesn't make any sense anymore.

Politicians can't expect for everyone to stay home forever, and be always scared about everything.

Politics itself scares me the most during the pandemic.

Paul_Shepherd

Agreed... politics is a huge issue, no western governement has followed its own protocol for this pandemic....they have blindly followed China all along, some countries more than others... to the point now I think its lost its scare for a lot of people... most people just want to get on with their lives, and the fact that vaccine is mostly successful makes this possible...given the fact that if you do get it, it wont be any more than a cold. There is the odd case that fully vaccinated people can die from it, but there is also the odd case that you won't make it to your destination when you board a plane.

Of course there are people that can't have the vaccine due to medical reasons, these examples are much lower than people who refuse to have the vaccine, there is a big difference, and my theory is the vaccine allows enough "normal" life to continue for most people as it prevents spread, real sickness and death until the virus has mutated enough into a harmless form and we no longer need a vaccine, our own immune system will deal with it. I hope Omicron is the first stage of this process, if so, maybe its time we should be aiming for herd immunity instead of locking people up again. Just my thoughts on the latest reaction to this new contagious but weak variant.

ChrisBan

yeah well the tin hat brigade is all going “told you so”. At this point, travel restrictions are low hanging fruit that can show the government is doing something. The horse has already bolted so this makes no sense, you mostly have to take a test to go anywhere or come back into Canada so if they’re saying that’s not effective then why are they forcing us to line the pockets of these testing companies. The UK government only reintroduced those hotels because they were hoping it would stir enough controversy to bury the daily sleeze Boris is encountering.

I lost my dad to COVID, I’ve done everything that’s been asked of me but I’m at the point that I’m increasingly questioning some of the actions being taken here. I’ll probably get my 3rd vaccine, but then I question how are we ever going to get out of this if there are still places in the world that haven’t been able to administer/receive the 1st doses, when seemingly I’m in a lower risk group. Chris Whitty admitted he thinks it’s going to be increasingly difficult to keep the rational people onboard with reintroduction of restrictions.


Difficult to know what’s more damaging; being honest with the population that this is going to go on for years (as some warned earlier in the pandemic) or teasing people with “return to normal” only to revert/introduce more draconian rules at a later date.

Nand

OH No! Here we go again. So Omicron is beating the vax in B.C. Canada!

Let's hope and pray it is a much milder disease and people recover very quickly.

😕 💛💛🌸💛💛 🕊

Atlantic Xpat

This is a very balanced article on Omnicron. We know how to deal with it. We just need to do it. https://time.com/6128506/omicron-covid-19-how-to-fight/

Atlantic Xpat

You'dve thought after 2 years of this sh1t that the govt would have learned the fallacy of knee jerk reactions. The best thing they could do right now is 1) ensure booster vaccine supply 2) have a national programme to roll out LFT's (NS I think leads the way here) and 3) Make sure that Canada is providing as much support as possible to countries with low vax rates. I suspect they'll do 1 and not even attempt 2 & 3.

Nand

Where I live in France only 81% of the population has got the first Covid jab. We are in an area where there are a lot of Anti-vax campaigns, marches and out and out revolts against the masks, vaccines, and locking down, particularly adversity to closing of nightclubs, restaurants and such.

We have a lot of isolated elderly people in my neighborhood who appear to be doing everything possible, right and following all of the advice. It is not easy to get the vaccine here. My neighbors could not make an appointment, all possible avenues were all booked up or closed and so the husband was allowed back into Germany but she wasn't.

From what I read North America has been much more efficient. My interest in the Canada forum is because I have family in Vancouver lower mainland area.

Take good care of yourselves - everyone - because somebody cares about you.

💛💛🕊💛💛

BristolUK

Based on everything else they've done differently or later than other countries I would suggest that anything the UK does or doesn't do, under the present government, is not a good example to follow unless it's something close to universal.