COVID-19 Outbreak Information Updates (Reboot) [over 150.000,000 US cases (est.), 6,422,520 US hospitilizations, 1,148,691 US deaths.] (16 Viewers)

[Mr. Blue Sky]

The new variant is literally being called “Nu”.. the one thing i didnt see in this article, unless i missed it- while it says the new variant is 40% more likely to evade the vaccine, it doesnt say whether the vaccine will still be more likely to keep you from being hospitalized or dying if you get ‘Nu’ than if you hadnt gotten the vaccine, as with the Delta variant.. again, unless i missed it.

Scientists alarmed over new 'worst-ever' COVID variant

Flights from Southern Africa have been effectively halted into the UK and Israel, as concern mounts about a new super-mutant COVID variant.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[bclemms]

The new variant is literally being called “Nu”.. the one thing i didnt see in this article, unless i missed it- while it says the new variant is 40% more likely to evade the vaccine, it doesnt say whether the vaccine will still be more likely to keep you from being hospitalized or dying if you get ‘Nu’ than if you hadnt gotten the vaccine, as with the Delta variant.. again, unless i missed it.

Scientists alarmed over new 'worst-ever' COVID variant

Flights from Southern Africa have been effectively halted into the UK and Israel, as concern mounts about a new super-mutant COVID variant.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Lots to still learn about it.

Scary part is it mutated more than most thought possible in a single mutation. The rest is way too early to know anything with any sort of certainty. There have only been about 100 cases identified so it's no way to know case outcomes off such a small sample size particularly with variables of vaccines and treatments in play.

Also interesting it's emerging almost exactly a year after Delta was first discovered.

The stock market futures are reacting violently to the news of this, more so than any other variant announced to date which probably isn't a good sign.

 

[Sun Wukong]

The new variant is literally being called “Nu”.. the one thing i didnt see in this article, unless i missed it- while it says the new variant is 40% more likely to evade the vaccine, it doesnt say whether the vaccine will still be more likely to keep you from being hospitalized or dying if you get ‘Nu’ than if you hadnt gotten the vaccine, as with the Delta variant.. again, unless i missed it.

Scientists alarmed over new 'worst-ever' COVID variant

Flights from Southern Africa have been effectively halted into the UK and Israel, as concern mounts about a new super-mutant COVID variant.

www.dailymail.co.uk

There's no way to know yet. This thing was just discovered and discovery lags behind transmission, so the next several days/weeks will be about compiling as much information as possible. Based on what little we know right now about where and how it has mutated, this may have the potential to be even nastier than Delta. I saw a quote from one scientist that called the number and location of the mutations in this variant "horrific." But there are lots of factors still to be determined.

Regardless, this pandemic is not close to over, no matter how much people want to believe otherwise, and people should keep an eye on this. World Health Organization is having an emergency meeting today. At the very least I'd assume we get an official designation of "Nu" out of that meeting.

 

[SaintInBucLand]

Reminds me of the Delta Plus variant followed by the Mu variant shortly after, we were all supposed to be terrified of that one too.

I wonder who has been making big money with shorts with the stock market today...

 

[kcirdor]

The article that was posted yesterday on reddit said the Nu variant is likely unstable due to the volume of mutations. It had a fear click bait title but then said not to worry. Not gonna spread speculative fear.

 

[bclemms]

There's no way to know yet. This thing was just discovered and discovery lags behind transmission, so the next several days/weeks will be about compiling as much information as possible. Based on what little we know right now about where and how it has mutated, this may have the potential to be even nastier than Delta. I saw a quote from one scientist that called the number and location of the mutations in this variant "horrific." But there are lots of factors still to be determined.

Regardless, this pandemic is not close to over, no matter how much people want to believe otherwise, and people should keep an eye on this. World Health Organization is having an emergency meeting today. At the very least I'd assume we get an official designation of "Nu" out of that meeting.

Given all the research over antibody response on different variants and the longer term protection offered across different strains including evidence of some immunity offered from previous coronavirus (common cold). I would be shocked if it renders the vaccine useless or significantly different in regards to severe outcomes.

I'll also be surprised if it is more deadly as evolutionary pressures would try to push it the opposite direction.

If I had to guess right now, the most likely scenario is it will be able to bypass vaccine protection for contagion easier, be no more deadly or even less deadly and the vaccines will still offer a high level of immunity against severe disease.

The biggest problem at this point is how much this strain changed in a single mutation, where that mutation occurred and if it is more contagious with the ability to bypass immunity for infection then it's a bad combination that will lead to a lot more pressure on healtcare systems and a lot more suffering due to sheer volume. If it does become the dominant strain then it also pushes the primary variant farther away from vaccines.

The good news is the odds of this one making as big of a leap forward in contagiousness as Delta did is still unlikely. It was probably discovered faster than Delta due to more sequencing now vs then plus it being identified in South Africa where they sequence the highest percentage of cases in the world. Delta also decreased the time in which symptoms first appeared after contract from and average of 6 days to 4 days which means it could spread globally faster. Desipte all that it still took many months for it to overtake Alpha as the dominant strain. This means, it wont become the dominant strain in the US in peak season and wont be the dominant strain in the US until the spring at the earliest. Initial reports also claimed Delta was 80%-120% more contagious and more deadly with the ability to work around vaccine protection. It ended up being about 40% more contagious, less deadly and while it was able to infect more had little impact on vaccine protection against severe disease despite being able to cause a much higher percent of breakthrough infections. So, initial reports of new strains have consistently been much worse than reality, hopefully that trend continues.

Question that I really don't know the answer to and nobody seems to be able to answer or willing to ask. How much can they change the current vaccine "recipe" to better match current strains without having to go through long trials? If the vaccine can get updated to match this variant you would think it would offer much better protection against Delta, this new variant and likely the next few mutations instead of just working with the original strain.

 

[bclemms]

I wonder who has been making big money with shorts with the stock market today...

I have had a really nice day. I'm 3x inverse the Russell 2000 due to the expectation that inflation, fed tightening, supply chain risks and tight labor market would take a toll on small businesses. The reaction to the news today was weeks faster than the reaction than the original news of Covid-19 which tells me that the market was probably looking for a reason for a correction anyway and some of this was probably due to the fed mentioning they are ready for rate increases in the minutes on Wednesday. With only 100 cases identified it's hard to imagine that the market is suddenly worried about risk after being able to overlook everything it has in the last 14 months.

 

[bonnjer]

Yall look at this guy on Twitter?

https://twitter.com/DrEricDing?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

He seems to update frequently with news and info, including a lot of charts and graphs.

 

[Mr. Blue Sky]

If I had to guess right now, the most likely scenario is it will be able to bypass vaccine protection for contagion easier, be no more deadly or even less deadly and the vaccines will still offer a high level of immunity against severe disease.

This is exactly what im hoping for, but yeah , like yall said, it’ll take weeks to have any clue whether or not this is true… Meanwhile, I’m eligible for a booster in January and, even though i had a terrible reaction to the second jab, i may lean towards getting the booster anyway.

 

[Doug B]

Yall look at this guy on Twitter?

People post Fiegl-Ding's tweets frequently, here and on other boards. I've found him prone to sensationalize.

 

[bonnjer]

People post Fiegl-Ding's tweets frequently, here and on other boards. I've found him prone to sensationalize.

I thought I had seen him posted here before. And yes, he does seem to get quite dramatic with some of his posts. I do like the graphs that he posts, though.

 

[faceman]

I thought I had seen him posted here before. And yes, he does seem to get quite dramatic with some of his posts. I do like the graphs that he posts, though.

Chuck has posted several of his tweets. He's been sensationalists ,but he's also been accurate. There is no reason to panic
yet,but this variant bears close watching.

 

[Mr. Blue Sky]

Scratch ‘Nu’, the new variant will be called ‘Omicron’



.







.

 

[gboudx]

Scratch ‘Nu’, the new variant will be called ‘Omicron’

Probably a good move. Naming it “Nu” could get Abbott and Costello style dialog going.

You here of the Nu COVID variant?
No, what’s its name?
Nu.
Yes the new variant.
Its called the Nu variant.
Thats what you just told me, what’s its name?
Its the Nu variant.

And on and on …

 

[brandon8283]

Probably a good move. Naming it “Nu” could get Abbott and Costello style dialog going.

You here of the Nu COVID variant?
No, what’s its name?
Nu.
Yes the new variant.
Its called the Nu variant.
Thats what you just told me, what’s its name?
Its the Nu variant.

And on and on …

Almost certainly the reason they went with Omicron, lol.

Side note, Omicron also sounds as intimidating as fork and is certainly going to send the conspiracy theorists into overdrive on name alone.