03-04-2022, 06:52 AM
Ombligo wrote:
Give up on getting everyone to wear masks again, it is not going to happen. That has become too political and many of those who wore them will not wear them again. All you can do is protect yourself the best you can.
Never say never. I would think that a new variant, with, say, a 95% mortality rate, will do the trick!
Filliam H. Muffman wrote:
[quote=PeterB]
[quote=Filliam H. Muffman]
How about the man infected with a deer-specific version of Covid19 (human > deer > deer variant > human)? There are a few dozen types of animals for this to happen with, not even including swine flu. I guess that's one aspect of it becoming endemic.
To my knowledge, no one has been definitively infected with a deer-specific version of SARS-CoV-2 ... if you have a source, please cite it.
Animal -> human transmission is definitely a concern, just as it is for the flu ... the difference being that a number of animal species don't seem to get as sick as humans do when they get the virus, and also there's the question of whether those animal species are coming into close contact with humans. Here's the CDC's take on it:
https://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/covid-19/wildlife.html
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nco...imals.html
I guess it hasn't been proven to be the same alternate strain.
https: //www.nytimes.com/2022/03/01/health/coronavirus-variant-deer-ontario.html
From that article, it sounds likely that the transmission might have been from close contact with the deer -- a hunter wasn't being careful and/or wasn't aware that the deer may carry corona. The likelihood of this happening is pretty slim, but it's true that if a person picks up a novel variant from the deer and IF that variant is more contagious/infectious/deadly than the current strains, that could be a major problem.
Don C wrote:
I have been hoping to restart my English country dance group in April. With mask mandates removed this week, three or four weeks should tell us if there is a resulting surge.
But that theory does not take into account a new variant! Of course, I have known that a new variant is possible, but boy did I have hopes!
Do I think a new variant is likely? Maybe... the question is how the variant compares to the known ones. I think-- at least for New Orleans-- we'll know in, perhaps 2-3 weeks... the problem is that most of the schools here were out for Mardi Gras, and all the students come back this coming week... will be interesting if the schools continue to mandate masking indoors, and what the effect will be of having all these people coming back into contact with each other, when presumably they were all exposed to all sorts of things and people from other locations during MG.
mattkime wrote:
There will always be a new variant, its just a matter of whether it has a significant impact on the infection rate.
See above. It's not just the infection rate; it's also whether the current vaccines are effective both at preventing transmission and serious disease.