Snowglobe of Doom posted:

Oh and it turns out that the returned traveler [...] lives in the suburb next to mine, awwwwwwwwwwwesome.

Snowglobe of Doom posted:

The Sydney outbreak spread to Queensland a few days ago and has now spread to Melbourne. So far the known interstate cases have all been caught in quarantine and seem to have been contained, and Melbourne has now gone 53 days without any local community spread.

Oh and it turns out that the returned traveler who brought the Sydney outbreak back to Melbourne lives in the suburb next to mine, awwwwwwwwwwwesome.

https://twitter.com/VicGovDHHS/status/1341140709013860352
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-22/victoria-reports-new-coronavirus-case-acquired-in-sydney/13002672

gay picnic defence posted:

I think I saw somewhere that the super covid has been detected in a couple of people in quarantine too.

quote:

Asked about the new strain at a press conference, NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said two returned travellers from the UK who tested positive to COVID-19 were found to be carrying the mutated variant of the virus.

ymgve posted:

we should be thankful viruses don't work like plague inc where they all mutate simultaneously across the world

Edgar Allan Pwned posted:

is there a list of how many strains?

Edgar Allan Pwned posted:

is there a list of how many strains?

Hadlock posted:

Good news, there is just 8 short of 3,000 private hospitals in Mexico

ymgve posted:

we should be thankful viruses don't work like plague inc where they all mutate simultaneously across the world

quote:

Antarctica can no longer lay claim to being the only continent free of coronavirus after 36 Chileans reportedly tested positive for COVID-19.

Spanish-language media has reported up to 36 people connected with the Chilean Army base General Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme tested positive for the virus on Monday.

The research station, known colloquially as O'Higgins, is one of 13 active Chilean bases in Antarctica.

Snowglobe of Doom posted:

The Sydney outbreak spread to Queensland a few days ago and has now spread to Melbourne. So far the known interstate cases have all been caught in quarantine and seem to have been contained, and Melbourne has now gone 53 days without any local community spread.

Oh and it turns out that the returned traveler who brought the Sydney outbreak back to Melbourne lives in the suburb next to mine, awwwwwwwwwwwesome.

https://twitter.com/VicGovDHHS/status/1341140709013860352
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-22/victoria-reports-new-coronavirus-case-acquired-in-sydney/13002672

punk rebel ecks posted:

Did you guys loving Brexit yet? Like you've been on the roadmap for that since before Trump was elected.

legooolas posted:

They're still arguing about movement and trade, whilst we have a 20 mile queue of lorries on the way to Dover because France won't let anyone from the plague island in for 48 hours at least.

So we're likely to crash out with no agreement, which will probably cause problems with getting vaccines/medicine/food imported. Sounds like ideal timing and a great move to me! Taking back control!

(Edit: Current final final definitely not getting extended that's it deadline is the end of December)

Hopper posted:

At this point the EU should not give another extension. Instead, they should make a hard cut and then send humanitarian aid in terms of medicine and food for the people. Boris tries so very hard to reduce the UK to a third world country after all.

I do feel for the people though, even if this all started with an extremely dumb popular vote.

Mozi posted:

i watched vincent racaniello's video about the UK variant and his opinion in the absence of further evidence is there isn't a compelling reason to think this variant spreads more easily than any other, and the higher spread may just be due to superspreader events that happened to be spreading that variant

hopefully that is indeed the case. though this thing is so widespread now it seems inevitable that at some point it'll come up with something new we don't like

Just Another Lurker posted:

Lots of people are thinking that Boris hyped it up to distract from Brexit but didn't think that the rest of the world would care...... oops?!?

PHE posted:

Statistical modelling of the relationship between the frequency of VOC detection and the reproduction number Rt indicates that the VOC is significantly associated with a higher reproduction number. We find that Rt increases by 0.57 [95%CI: 0.25-1.25] when we use a fixed effect model for each area. Using a random effect model for each area gives an estimated additive effect of 0.74 [95%CI: 0.44-1.29]
...
Three of these mutations have potential biological effects that have been described previously to varying extents:
•Mutation N501Y is one of six key contact residues within the receptor-binding domain (RBD) and has been identified as increasing binding affinity to human ACE2.
•The spike deletion 69-70del has also occurred a number of times in association with other RBD changes.
•Mutation P681H is immediately adjacent to the furin cleavage site, a known location of biological significance.
...
Antigenicity: Position 501 is in the RBD, where neutralising antibodies most frequently act, and therefore it is possible that variants at this position affect the efficacy of neutralisation of virus.

Just Another Lurker posted:

I'm inside this clusterfuck and i think a short, sharp, shock might be the only way to get through to the loonies in charge.

John F Bennett posted:

How long will it take before they'll start to call this new strain COVID-20?

Xaintrailles posted:

PHE posted:

Statistical modelling of the relationship between the frequency of VOC detection and the reproduction number Rt indicates that the VOC is significantly associated with a higher reproduction number. We find that Rt increases by 0.57 [95%CI: 0.25-1.25] when we use a fixed effect model for each area. Using a random effect model for each area gives an estimated additive effect of 0.74 [95%CI: 0.44-1.29]
...
Three of these mutations have potential biological effects that have been described previously to varying extents:
•Mutation N501Y is one of six key contact residues within the receptor-binding domain (RBD) and has been identified as increasing binding affinity to human ACE2.
•The spike deletion 69-70del has also occurred a number of times in association with other RBD changes.
•Mutation P681H is immediately adjacent to the furin cleavage site, a known location of biological significance.
...
Antigenicity: Position 501 is in the RBD, where neutralising antibodies most frequently act, and therefore it is possible that variants at this position affect the efficacy of neutralisation of virus..

quote:

The family of an 18-year-old college student who broke the Cayman Islands’ coronavirus laws on a trip last month has pleaded for her release from prison ahead of a hearing on Tuesday before a panel of judges who will decide whether her appeal can proceed.

“She cries, she wants to come home,” the student’s grandmother, Jeanne Mack, said on NBC’s “Today” show on Monday. “She knows she made a mistake. She owns up to that, but she’s pretty hysterical right now.”

Skylar Mack and her boyfriend, Vanjae Ramgeet, 24, were sentenced to four months in prison after violating the Cayman Island’s required 14-day quarantine period for visitors.

In late November, with her semester at Mercer University in Georgia complete, Ms. Mack flew to the Cayman Islands to watch her boyfriend compete in the islands’ Jet Ski racing national championship.

When she arrived, however, there was a problem.

She got there on a Friday; the championship was on Sunday. And per the country’s laws, she was required to remain in her hotel room for 14 days before going anywhere else on the islands.

To elude the restrictions, Ms. Mack, after receiving a negative coronavirus test, slipped an electronic monitoring bracelet from her wrist and escaped to a beach on Grand Cayman’s South Sound, where she saw Mr. Ramgeet win first place.

But the event organizers were notified that Ms. Mack may have been in breach of the rules and the police were called, her lawyer said. Ms. Mack was charged with leaving her home during the quarantine period, and Mr. Ramgeet was charged with aiding and abetting her. They were sentenced to four months in prison for the quarantine breach.

“This was as flagrant a breach as could be imagined,” Justice Roger Chapple said in court during the sentencing, according to the Cayman Compass, a news website in the Cayman Islands. “It was born of selfishness and arrogance.”

The islands, a British territory of nearly 65,000 residents, have reported 316 infections and two deaths, as of Monday, with no reported cases of local transmission since July. Only people who have been preauthorized to enter the Cayman Islands can travel there, and they must quarantine for 14 days in a government facility, a private facility or at home, if approved.

Upon arrival to the island, visitors receive an electronic smart wristband and are equipped with a cellphone with an app, called Stay Safe Cayman. Using the app, they must log where they are quarantining. Visitors cannot end quarantines until they can show negative results from tests taken on their 15th day on the island, government officials said

Ms. Mack’s relatives in suburban Atlanta scrambled to pull together letters from friends and family attesting to her character in an effort to get the sentence overturned on appeal, said Jeanne Mack, 68.

Jeanne Mack also wrote to President Trump for help. She received a response from the Office of Presidential Correspondence last week stating that her correspondence had been forwarded “to the appropriate federal agency for further action.”

Justice Chapple said last week in court that “the gravity of the breach was such that the only appropriate sentence would have been one of immediate imprisonment,” according to the Cayman Compass, a news website in the Cayman Islands.

The family and Skylar, a junior pre-med student, make no illusions about what happened, her grandmother said: What she did was wrong.

“I’ll do everything to get you home, and when I get you here, I’m going to kick your butt,” Jeanne Mack said. “We’re not saying, ‘poor, innocent Skylar.’ We’re simply saying the punishment does not meet the crime.”

Skylar Mack and Mr. Ramgeet pleaded guilty to breaking the quarantine rules and were initially sentenced to 40 hours of community service and a fine of 2,600 Cayman Islands dollars (about $3,100). But the punishment was increased last week after the prosecutor appealed, saying the initial sentences were “unduly lenient and wrong in principle.”

Jeanne Mack said that if the panel of judges on Tuesday decides that her appeal can proceed, then the family hopes that she will be released on bond pending the appeal.