Chat about Novel Coronavirus - 2019-nCoV - COVID-19

My mum is 80 and was vaccinated yesterday. My dad is 79 and wasn't on the list but they did him as he was there. So not very far. I expect it will vary a bit locally.

This rather limp press release from last week is all the only thing they've made public:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/more-than-137000-people-in-uk-receive-first-dose-of-covid-vaccine-in-one-week

"Not very" seems a reasonable conclusion.

Thanks.

Not happy about living in T2 and having to work (and live during the week) in London, so thinking of jacking it in until I get jabbed.

But at this rate, I'm not sure I could hold out till then.

A few pages back there was reference to a briefing document saying that 25m people were forecast to be vaccinated next year so it could be a while until they get round to you.

350k were done as of Johnson's speech, I believe. Estimates are that 50% of the population in the UK could realistically be done by April. If the Oxford vaccine gets approval this month, there may be mass vaccination centres popping up next month.

If you aren't vulnerable and are under 50 then I think you are unlikely to get a jab for 6-9 months

Openings words from the article on the LBC web site.

A top scientist today told LBC he finds it “very hard to see the
logic” of plunging London and the South East into Tier 4 restrictions
because the new coronavirus variant is “all over the UK anyway”.

Maybe because infections are going through the roof and hospitals are on the edge of being maxed out?

The same Nervttag dude said this

Prof Dingwall said the travel ban being put in place on the UK by European countries also lacked logic, adding the only reason they have not identified the variant is because “they haven’t looked for it”.

Same logic as Trump - only reason we have so many cases is because we’re doing so many tests

https://www.omnicalculator.com/health/vaccine-queue-uk

for a very rough idea when you might get vaccinated.

Same logic as Trump - only reason we have so many cases is because we’re doing so many tests

Sort of except there is apparently at least a small element of truth to it. Or at least its plausible that it could be true. The new strain we have here has been found in other european countries and Australia and not every country conducts mutation surveillance.

Worth keeping in mind that British people have been travelling to and from the EU for nearly 3 months since this new more virulent strain was discovered. It is unlikely that only the UK has it.

Not sure this is fully up to date but these links show that the mutation is in at least 11 countries.

https://github.com/emmahodcroft/cluster_scripts/blob/master/README.md

https://github.com/emmahodcroft/cluster_scripts/blob/master/cluster_tables/S.N501_table.md

Edit: Good explainer on N501 sequence here:

https://twitter.com/firefoxx66/status/1338533710178775047?lang=en-gb

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China recorded in 2013?

Its as clear as mud isn't it? The Twitter link I posted above explains some of it.

I think N501 is just one part of the mutation in this strain.

In any case, its been in the UK since September and people have been travelling to the EU so it still remains unlikely that its isolated here.

This is less misleading. A map of where they've found the mutated strain rather than part of the mutation.

I don't think anybody is arguing that it didn't originate in the UK, more that it has been in the UK for so long (and with international travel) that it surely must be prevalentelsewhere.

https://nextstrain.org/groups/neherlab/ncov/S.N501?c=gt-S_501,69&label=mlabel:20B/A23063T&p=grid

Anecdata. Streets round us usually full with parked cars are half empty. Not everyone has stayed at home.

Yep our street is half empty and has been since yesterday. I think a lot 'escaped' Tier 4 on Saturday.

Yep. You just need to look at the interactive map to see why putting London and the SE in T4 makes sense. It's pretty scary as that massive dark red bit with the dark blue bit west of it appeared very quickly.

I don't think anybody is arguing that it didn't originate in the UK, more that it has been in the UK for so long (and with international travel) that it surely must be prevalentelsewhere.

Looking forward to Trump calling it the Kent Virus.

Has anybody had an antibody test yet?

Yes - had one a month or so ago as part of the random trial.

Yep our street is half empty and has been since yesterday. I think a lot 'escaped' Tier 4 on Saturday.

Same for us. Most people round here have second homes. Every time lockdown gets tougher, lots of parking spaces appear.

How is the test administered? Did you have antibodies?

We're happily reconciled to a Christmas in London now. Although I'm still incandescent with rage over the utterly shambolic way this has been handled, I know it's the right thing to do.

That doesn't mean though that I'm ever going to forgive the current Cabinet for making my Mum (who is in her 70s) cry yesterday morning, or the thousands of people they have allowed to die. I hope I never bump into Matt Hancock because the urge to punch the smug little shit in the face would be very very strong.

I have also spent the last few days panic buying Christmas food, returning presents, re-ordering them and arranging for a courier to collect a 32.5kg trolley jack from my sister's house which is about as much use to me there as a chocolate teapot. All minor annoyances of course.