UK detects 77 cases of South African COVID variant, nine of Brazilian

[bronxiteforever]

JANUARY 24, 20214:47 AMUPDATED 3 HOURS AGO
UK detects 77 cases of South African COVID variant, nine of Brazilian
By Reuters Staff
3 MIN READ

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain has detected 77 cases of the South African variant of COVID-19, the health minister said on Sunday, also urging people to strictly follow lockdown rules as the best precaution against Britain’s own potentially more deadly variant.

... Oxford professor Anthony Harnden, deputy chair of a scientific committee on vaccination that advises the government, said the South African and Brazilian variants were of concern because COVID-19 vaccines may not be effective against them.

“The new variants abroad are a real worry. The South African and the Brazilian Amazonian ones, there are hints that there will be vaccine escape,” he said on Sky News, adding that new variants would keep appearing around the world.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-britain-variants/uk-detects-77-cases-of-south-african-covid-variant-nine-of-brazilian-idUSKBN29T07P

[Pachamama]

1. I will never understand how after over a year ago the world government's knew about COVID-19, that

...air travel and inter-country and inter-state travel was allowed to continue without either strict testing and verifications that people were negative and requiring mandatory quarantine.

In Germany this summer and fall, British citizens and European Citizens from all over travel between the countries without testing. And even with some "restrictions" it was a joke. (Don't get me wrong - the same is true for the US).

But there should be no surprise that here we are at what will likely be the worst period in this global pandemic (California alone is facing a doubling of its current cases in the next month of what took a year to reach) and Germany is really impacted as well as Britain where they are in this article discussing the detection of these mutations from South Africa and Brazil.

What was the UK doing when each time a flight arrived from another country? Should there be any surprise that this has happened and where we are all headed?

It was all avoidable....

[Irish_Dem]

2. The economy is more important than human life.

They knew what would happen.
And they knew mutations would occur.
The more people infected the more likely mutations.

[Pachamama]

3. That is the truthful answer - it was an economic calculation

But it was a mistaken short-term benefit calculation that ultimately will have larger and more dire economic consequences.

Imagine if the World Governments had jointly agreed back in March/April 2020 to literally have a worldwide shutdown and to have had extremely restricted travel and people staying inside. Food deliveries having been made to households and support payments by governments to keep people sustained.

Would it have taken a massive economic hit? Yes. But the virus likely could have been stopped and under control and the economy could have slowly restarted safely with guidelines and rules in place for travel etc. and we would have had by now the beginning of economic recovery and far less death and the costs on the society and economy.

Instead....here we are and facing worse...

[Irish_Dem]

5. Exactly, it was a short term calculation and self defeating.

If they had taken the hard steps of lock down, the economy would be better by now.
Humans don't seem capable of long term goals.
Everything has to be immediate.

[bronxiteforever]

7. I agree. The worst part is we don't really know

what we are facing. The new variants are extremely problematic and Pandora’s Box has been wide open in the US for a whole year. Trump’s position on international cooperation was made super clear during his term. The US would never ever join other governments in cooperation on the virus. Hell the US even ditched the W.H.O.

[Denzil_DC]

4. If only somebody could figure out how the virus got to the UK from Brazil and South Africa.

It was a mystery last September ...

it's still a mystery today ...

Crowds at Heathrow Airport spark ‘superspreading’ complaints and social distancing concerns



Scenes of big crowds at Heathrow sparked concerns about a lack of social distancing and the potential for coronavirus “superspreading” at the airport.

Pictures emerged on social media of tightly packed queues of people at border patrol in Heathrow Airport on Friday.
...
A spokesperson for Heathrow pointed out that immigration halls are controlled by Border Force officials, who are helping to implement new rules around negative Covid tests for passengers, and not by airports.

He added: “We’ve been clear since last May really that social distancing in an airport environment isn’t really possible.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/heathrow-airport-crowds-superspreading-covid-b900902.html

The UK has always valued its traditions:

Sir Richard Wharton: In stage one, we say nothing is going to happen.

Sir Humphrey Appleby: In stage two, we say something may be about to happen, but we should do nothing about it.

Sir Richard Wharton: In stage three, we say that maybe we should do something about it, but there’s nothing we can do.

Sir Humphrey Appleby: In stage four, we say maybe there was something we could have done, but it’s too late now ...

[Irish_Dem]

6. I love this 4 stage strategy clip. Unfortunately too often true.