The new variant doesn't sound that strong. I just wonder if it's easily spreadable.
A lot of unknowns at the moment. But given how rapid cases increase in SA (250% over 2 weeks, it seems it’s a more rapid spreader.
Now, how much does it make people sick\hospitalized\fatal is the TBD part. I think the fear is because there are 30+ mutations in the spike proteins ... which is how the vaccines attack the virus.
Time will tell. In the meantime, better safe than sorry - I’m glad governments are reacting swiftly with travel restrictions.
We're going to get to a point, though, where every variant/spike can't lead to a lock-down. Virus "theory" is such that viruses will mutate so that they survive. More contagious with milder symptoms is optimal, since it spreads faster - leading to more "virus" - but doesn't kill the hosts. At some point, the once-mocked "it's not the flu!" will likely be more accurate than not, in which case we have to adapt and move on from the Draconian restrictions.
Regardless of death rates and the amount of people hospitalised, I still think it is not a good thing to compare it to the flu. The flu is respiratory, covid not "just" that. It does who knows what to the brain, blood vessels, heart and other organs. The (long term) damage covid can do is only slowly being unraveled. And these effects aren't necessarily linked to how significant the respiratory symptoms are/were (the "asymptomatic" cases).
As an example, this week one of our major medical research hospitals reported 13 local cases of stillbirth as a result of covid in non-vaccinated people (since July). It seems to be rare in overall numbers, but enough for a local spike in just Rotterdam and surroundings in one hospital. And this is just an example of one of the many organs covid can damage (in this case the placenta being inflamed/scarred).
(Dutch source:
https://nos.nl/artikel/2407489-doodgeboortes-bij-niet-gevaccineerde-vrouwen-na-ontsteking-door-corona)
My eurotrip is up in the air now, work may revoke the approval due to travel restrictions and just general safety.
A milder variant that is more contagious may have a positive effect overall, if it overtakes Delta and leads to immunity against harsher variants. Delta has turned out to be quite disastrous here, we are once again in lockdowns.
Can you explain your lockdowns, since I am currently flying into Amsterdam in 1 week. My coworker got back last week and mentioned restaurants closing at 7-8pm and just general masking, but it seems things have changed in the last two weeks. Also, interesting how you need a positive test to fly into the US (even with vaccination) but not into the EU, just vaccination.
In short, just about everything is closed past 17:00 pm (restaurants, bars, entertainment etc.), except for essential stores and services (supermarkets close at 20:00 pm, for example). And in general there are the mask and social distancing rules.
And I assume you mean a negative test