vickster
Legendary Member
If he doesn't get it now, he's fairly likely to pick up something in Fresher's week, be it Covid or another lurgy!
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If he doesn't get it now, he's fairly likely to pick up something in Fresher's week, be it Covid or another lurgy!
lazybloke
Priest of the cult of Chris Rea
- Location
- Leafy Surrey
Good point; I'd forgotten that Unis in autumn were like a seething petri dish of infection.
Nasty!
vickster
Legendary Member
I have self-isolated as I do not want to pass it on to anyone; I know most people are not bothering to do so, and the advice on offer is all over the place.
I thought the advice was fairly straightforward. It's the same as flu. It's now an annual infection risk, you can get a vaccination booster if you are in a high risk group. There is no need to test to see if you've got it. Try to stay at home for 5 days if you are over 18, 3 if under although no need to keep kids off school. 10 days if you are having contact with someone at high risk from it.
markemark
Über Member
Yeah that’s wishful thinking I’m afraid. Covid is getting somewhat less dangerous but that’s because it is evolving to favour transmission over danger. If it affects higher up the throat is is more likely to be passed on but causes less internal damage. If it affects lower down the throat it is more dangerous but less transmissible.
This is only for this particular infection. It is not abiut avoiding killing the host else diseases like HIV, malaria, mpox etc would have become less harmful over the decades whereas if anything they’re getting worse.
As mentioned above another part of the story is previous immunity and vaccination.
roubaixtuesday
self serving virtue signaller
Per above, this is often stated, but doesn't appear to be true AFAICT.
Do you have a reference?
markemark
Über Member
You are right, I read this a number of times but cannot recall how robust this theory is. A quick google throws up this but without delving too much deeper it may or may not be a robust theory!
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/31/health/covid-omicron-lung-cells.html
"In studies on mice and hamsters, Omicron produced less damaging infections, often limited largely to the upper airway: the nose, throat and windpipe. The variant did much less harm to the lungs, where previous variants would often cause scarring and serious breathing difficulty."
roubaixtuesday
self serving virtue signaller
Yeah, as I understand it, the virus will evolve to escape immunity and/or increase transmission.
There's no particular reason why this should make it more or less damaging, it's pretty much random either way.
So you basically can't predict whether it will become evolve to be more or less deadly.
markemark
Über Member
Indeed. Fatality is irrelevant. Transmission is everything. It's why the worst diseases are at most risk of transmission before any symptoms. Covid is in the group that some symptoms are the trasmission (coughing). What happens after that to the host is irrelevant. This is not a conscious being that strives to survive. It randomly mutates and those that transmit the easiest are the ones that become dominant.
as I said all over the place.
I should add that COVID contributed greatly to my wife passing away in March this year, she was in hospital awaiting a small heart operation, caught COVID whilst in hospital, and her lungs filled up with fluid on numerous occasions, meaning major heart attacks occurring, after I sat beside her for 52 days when she was on life support she passed away due to multiple organ failure, six weeks before our fiftieth wedding anniversary, we had been happily married since we were 17 and 18. Before going into hospital with what we thought was a chest infection, she did not have COVID at that time, she was extremely fit and active along with being the correct weight for her height. So excuse me if I do not take COVID as lightly as some of you may.
