"The variant harbours a large number of mutations found in other variants, including Delta, and it seems to be spreading quickly across South Africa. A World Health Organization (WHO) expert group will meet on 26 November, and will likely label the strain — currently known as B.1.1.529 — as a variant of concern or variant of interest. The variant would likely be named Nu if it is flagged by the WHO group.

A top priority is to track the variant more closely as it spreads: it was first identified in Botswana this month and has turned up in travellers to Hong Kong from South Africa. Scientists are also trying to understand the variant’s properties, such as whether it can evade immune responses triggered by vaccines and whether it causes more or less severe disease than other variants do.

Researchers spotted B.1.1.529 in genome-sequencing data from Botswana. The variant stood out because it contains more than 30 changes to the spike protein — the SARS-CoV-2 protein that recognizes host cells and is the main target of the body’s immune responses. Many of the changes have been found in variants such as Delta and Alpha and are linked to heightened infectivity and the ability to evade infection-blocking antibodies.

Researchers in South Africa will also study whether B.1.1.529 causes disease that is more severe or milder than other variants produce, Lessells said. “The really key question comes around disease severity.”


https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03552-w

My plan to head down to Yuma for a midwinter break to visit my sister will depend on news about this variant and what impact it has in the US...and of course if the border remains open. Was hoping to have a beer with BYU Boner on my way through SLC...we'll see....



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/26/2021 01:04PM by Lethbridge Reprobate.

Canada has just banning entry of foreign nationals who have travelled through southern Africa in the last 14 days.

Experts don't yet know how transmissible this variant is.

Abundance of caution.

Hope you get to go on your winter break, LR.

Thanks Nightingale...me too...but safety is paramount. Just saw on the noon news that the Trans Canada Highway is kinda open. Take care. Be well...be safe.

Yeah, kinda is right - the pictures of the destruction are enough to put you off driving holidays for life.

You too - be safe over there in Alberta with that Kenney guy.

Unfortunate we don't have a vaccination to guard against his damage.

No kidding.

And then you have this person, the self-proclaimed sovereign of Canada…

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/completely-false-anti-vaccine-cease-and-desist-order-prompts-complaints-to-police-1.6088212

Not all the loons are on your money.

logged off today Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Not all the loons are on your money.

Ha. Yeah.

Some of her talking points have an American flavour (no offence, just a comparison):

1. She refers to Canada as now being a "sovereign republic".

2. She uses the phrase "We the People" to refer to Canadians, and states that "we the people" approve of her message.

I just checked to be absolutely sure [sarc] but Canada is not a "sovereign republic" as she states. Yup, still a constitutional monarchy, thankyouverymuch.

We are officially a Dominion but that word isn't used much any more. The Statute of Westminster (a British law, 1931) acknowledged Canada's (and other countries') independence from Britain. We are "sovereign" in relation to Britain, meaning legally independent from. Queen Elizabeth II is still our reigning sovereign. Same word, different meanings.

As is pretty darn well known, "We the People" is the opening phrase of the American Constitution. I've never heard that phrase used by Canadians to refer to our collective selves. It's not in any of our legal documents pertaining to becoming sovereign (as far as I know anyway).

Too, I think it goes without saying that the vast majority of "we the people" do NOT approve of her message, as she claims.

She goes on to use phrases such as "genocidal vaccines" and "crimes against humanity".

Pitiful copycat stuff.


Scariest part of the Conspiracy Movement is this concept contained in the linked article:

"Discovering that she is not the Queen of Canada will not end the movement or the network she has built," said Smith.


There is just no reasoning with some people. No matter how completely off the wall some self-proclaimed leader may be and how easily and logically their tripe can be disproved, some followers still follow. Many are past help, beyond hope. It's exhausting and fruitless to try to reason with them.

Some statements and ideas are just so completely ludicrous as to be immediately obviously wrong to regular folks in the street. Your first impulse is to laugh at people who spout utter nonsense. But. It isn't funny because the memes multiply and spread and all too many people swallow the lunacy hook, line, sinker, to the detriment of all.

It's so very tiring trying to bat down all the stupid-balls being lobbed from every direction all over the damn place.

Some people, like this "Queen of Canada" need a friendly visit by the white-coat brigade, tout de suite (as they say in Quebec). Others just amble along with all these amazingly weird thoughts in their head. Some of their comments and ideas can hit your funny bone at first but really it's not the least bit amusing that this stuff is out there and there's so much of it lately.

The last time I heard bizarre ideas on this level I was working in the psych unit and the people we were caring for were being investigated medically, diagnosed and treated for their delusions. The very scary part of what's being going on is that people spouting these strange viewpoints are in positions of influence, multiplied by the social media world in which we live now. It seems all-encompassing at times. And sad. And dangerous.

Re the supposed Queen of Canada who issued her eyebrow-raising notification to pharmacies, health units and vaccination clinics, in another age, someone proclaiming themselves to be sovereign when they were not would have been speedily dispatched in a fairly grim way. This one, in our (usually) more enlightened time, will escape the dungeon but hopefully visit one of the same pharmacies she hounded with her proclamation to pick herself up some little white pills to help her see better.

By the sounds of things, that will take some powerful magic.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/26/2021 05:47PM by Nightingale.

She can't be the Queen of Canada. I bet she doesn't even have a tiara. I on the other hand have a collection! I have my eye on a couple more. I would like a Spencer and a Cambridge Lover’s Knot. I think you are a Queen Mary's Fringe kind of gal NG :) It is a Kokoshnik.

I find it so touching that Philip used his mother's tiara (I believe it was her only one at the time) for the Edinburgh Wedding Bracelet. It is a shame though as it was stunning. His mother Alice sure was a beauty. Kate has been wearing it from time to time now. It's interesting that Kate has been allowed to wear it as it is so dear to Elizabeth. She has been wearing a lot of significant pieces but the bracelet is personal. Kate wore the Cartier Halo at her wedding. Rumor has it that there was quite a dust up with Meghan. She wanted the Greville Emerald Kokoshnik and Elizabeth said no! She ended up with the Queen Mary Diamond Bandeau. Eugenie got to wear it though ;) I have nothing to say about Cornwall.

Susan I/S Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> She can't be the Queen of Canada. I bet she
> doesn't even have a tiara.

LOL

> I think you are a Queen Mary's
> Fringe kind of gal NG :) It is a Kokoshnik.

They're all pretty. But I'm a strange one - not all that keen on diamonds. The Royal ladies look good in them though.


> I find it so touching that Philip used his
> mother's tiara (I believe it was her only one at
> the time) for the Edinburgh Wedding Bracelet. It
> is a shame though as it was stunning.

I like how they remodel them occasionally but yes, appreciate the history too. I guess as long as we have photos...


> It's interesting that Kate
> has been allowed to wear it as it is so dear to
> Elizabeth. She has been wearing a lot of
> significant pieces but the bracelet is personal.

I'm happy for QEII that she seems to have a great relationship with Kate. Kate sure looks the part too.


> Meghan...wanted the Greville Emerald Kokoshnik and
> Elizabeth said no!

I do like emeralds. Lovely colour.

Yes, Alice was lovely looking. There's a great sepia photo of her as a young woman. That's my favourite - sepia. Just beautiful. Seems 3D. A pleasure for the eyes.

I know there's some kind of hierarchy and historical significance to the Royal Family about who can do what and when etc, including using the most special of the Crown Jewels. I think it may be difficult for the Queen to say no to certain requests but she's a stickler for protocol and history. She's been in charge for a good long while. I don't know what may happen once she (the "old guard") is gone. I can see how the whole establishment seems anachronistic to so many at this point. But it's a huge part of Britain still so will likely persist for a good while yet.

Funny, Sus. I wouldn't have expected you to be au courant with the jewels of the British Royals.

I read that the Delta variant is something like 99.9% of all positive cases in the U.S. right now. It took over. So I guess the big question is whether Omicron will travel, and if so how quickly, and most of all, if it can dominate Delta.

I hope that you can visit your sister, but Canada has a history of being very cautious during the pandemic, and you wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of a border closure.

Well, I prefer my diseases just lightly mutated.

But whatever ghawd has planned for us, I know it’s for the best; stay tuned to the mormon church for the best and larder survey-approved news possible!

I've just seen the name of this variant: Omicron

How about "DoomSlayer?" "NewReaper?" "DeathDealer?"

They're saving "ohshit" for the next one.

Somehow "heavily mutated" brings up a mental image of a heavily tattooed virus.

Yeah, I like EOD's preference: just slightly mutated

in b 4 ~ what will the whirled health org do ?


when they run out of greek letters ? ~


in b 4 ~ covid variant ΞΜΩ ~


it is the best variant ~


for exmos of all ages ~


who are not afraid ~


of dying ~


or living ~

Deseret alphabet is next

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deseret_alphabet

Then Cherokee

Then Hangul

Lots of letters

After that, Elvish and Reformed Egyptian. Then maybe Klingon.

Come on, linguist masters, a little help here. I thought it was "Xi," as in (Chairpersonman) "Xi Jinping." But no, the Whirrled "Health" Organization says it's "omnicron."

But what do I know?

My suggestion: use the military phonetic alphabet. Charlie, India, Juliet, Mike, Oscar, Romeo, Sierra, Victor, and Yankee fans everywhere will just have to suck it up.

Pfei$er says they can get a booster tailored to the "omnicron" up and running in a month. Aren't you reassured?

Have you tried pronouncing Xi correctly? It's darned near impossible.

We would need someone who speaks Chinese to tell us what the appropriate tone is, but if we ignore that and simply try for the proper pronunciation the surname Xi is the same as the English third-person pronoun "she."

His full name is "She Jean Ping." I have no idea why the media and politicians keep reaching for something more complex. But they likewise massacre "Beijing," which is "Bay Jing," with bay as in Massachusetts Bay. Perhaps people think that China is so mysterious that its names must be impossible to say.

The "x" sound is a voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative. It's a little like an "sh" sound, but more whistly and Chinese has another sound that's like "sh" too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_alveolo-palatal_fricative

Tyson

Thanks for clearing that up. :)

I knew you would know :)

Yes, I am familiar with the difference between "xi" and "shi," the latter being retroflex.

The important point is that the pronunciation of the name Xi is the same as the English "she" whereas the Chinese sound "shi" does exist in English. The "ji" in Beijing is likewise fricative rather than the "zhi" retroflex.


PS: Thanks for the tones!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/2021 08:44PM by Lot's Wife.

So Africa now has something worse than Mormon missionaries?

How is this going to end?

“We’re all going to die!”

--Suddha Buddha

elderolddog Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> “We’re all going to die!”
>


Ha! Sorry, but but but you're hilarious!

It's like one of those dark movie "B" films where some creature lurks in the background while one of the character constantly looks panicked and wearily now and then says.
"We're All Gonna Die!" - - - "We're All Gonna Die!"

I'm gonna wait for the e-MC°⅔ variants ha ha ha.. I'm so bad, hehh

..really?

"in b 4 ~ what will the whirled health org do ?"

"in b 4 ~ what will the whirled health org do ?"

"in b 4 ~ what will the whirled health org do ?"

If you see three masks, maybe get your Book Of Mormon ready..

What if they deliberately made a variant that was more transmissible but very mild? Would it push
out the existing variants and become the only virus?

Then make a vaccine coded for that specific mild variant,
Use that before it can mutate again. Would that eradicate covid?

just some guy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Then make a vaccine coded for that specific mild
> variant,
> Use that before it can mutate again. Would that
> eradicate covid?

It would still depend on how many people were vaccinated. If a high enough percentage of the world's population had received the vaccines quickly that would likely have protected the remaining unvaccinated. It would have given the virus fewer hosts to attack and fewer mutations would occur. The problem with this virus overall is that we never met the high threshold of vaccinated populace to eradicate it quickly so it was given a chance to mutate, as we have seen happening and it continues.

Train your pet(s) to catch, kill, and eat the virus!


Maybe this is nature’s way rid the Earth of people who don’t know how to appreciate and evaluate evidence?


What if wearing a mask reduces your chance of catching COVID-(x) by a significant factor? What if using a combination moisturizer-viral sanitizer doubles that factor?

What if by some freakish coincidence I made out with your mother or grandmother in the 1960s and by some freakish set of circumstances it somehow wound up making you immune to the COVID?!?! . . . You’re welcome.

Less than 30% of SA is vaccinated while in comparison US is almost 70%.

https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations

As a good mormon, my response would have been: "Those are just facts!   Ignore them!!!"