2019 Novel Coronavirus Covid-19 Discussion

Forums › Health and fitness › 2019 Novel Coronavirus Covid-19 Discussion

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Mad Scientist
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#2695434 20-Apr-2021 20:08

Covid reappears in Fiji?

https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/124884150/covid19-kiwis-in-fiji-shocked-by-reemergence-of-cases-in-community

freitasm

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#2695478 20-Apr-2021 22:30

Covid-19: US to advise against travel to 80% of countries - BBC News

The US state department is to advise Americans to avoid 80% of countries worldwide because of the coronavirus pandemic.

In a note to the media about its updated travel guidance, it said the pandemic continued to "pose unprecedented risks to travellers".

The US state department said its decision to update its travel advisories was to bring it more in line with those from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and "does not imply a reassessment of the current health situation in a given country".

However, it said the move would "result in a significant increase in the number of countries at Level 4: Do Not Travel, to approximately 80% of countries worldwide".

Only three places at the world are assessed at the lowest of the state department's four risk levels - "Exercise normal precautions". They are Macau, Taiwan and New Zealand.

Even Antarctica is at level two - "Exercise increased caution" - while the UK is at level three - "Reconsider travel" - with an extra warning to exercise caution because of the risk of terrorism.

So New Zealand listed at lower level - but we are not accepting tourists here anyway...

tdgeek

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#2695582 21-Apr-2021 06:51

freitasm:

So New Zealand listed at lower level - but we are not accepting tourists here anyway...

Yes, and look at life here, its as BAU as it could be given the circumstances. Far from ideal, but it works. Each country needs to restrict/ban travel in the short term. Its not much help if internally you are succeeding, if most of the world can filter in. Its like fixing an oil leak in your car while invisible people are pin pricking the tank, 5 steps forward and four back

freitasm

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#2695633 21-Apr-2021 07:14

tdgeek:

freitasm:

So New Zealand listed at lower level - but we are not accepting tourists here anyway...

Yes, and look at life here, its as BAU as it could be given the circumstances. Far from ideal, but it works. Each country needs to restrict/ban travel in the short term. Its not much help if internally you are succeeding, if most of the world can filter in. Its like fixing an oil leak in your car while invisible people are pin pricking the tank, 5 steps forward and four back

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I did not imply that because we are at the lower level we should accept tourists.

I meant that it's ironic one of the countries they apply no restrictions to visit is one of the countries that won't let them visit anyway. Which is right.

cshwone

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#2695651 21-Apr-2021 07:42

Jase2985:
cshwone:

At Masterton Station this morning there was a lady handing out very professionally produced leaflets about why we should not be wearing facemasks. She was also supplying credit card sized "I am exempt from wearing a face mask" cards which were done with all the right colours, fonts etc to look almost official.

I despair....................

Edited to add that they are being handed out at Carterton Station as well. Obviously co-ordinated.

did you report this to the NZ police?

At 6.00am in Masterton? Doesn't merit an emergency call.

antonknee

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#2695797 21-Apr-2021 09:40

cshwone: At 6.00am in Masterton? Doesn't merit an emergency call.

Arguably could merit a call to 105 (the non-emergency number). In any case, it looks like Metlink have notified some authorities.

This kind of thing really annoys me - one of the people handing them out hadn't even read the thing: " Volunteers for The Freedom Alliance positioned themselves at stations throughout the Wellington region on Tuesday handing out the flyer to commuters at peak hours. One of them, Mike, a self-confessed conspiracy theorist, admitted he did not know they had not been approved by the ministry and had not actually read it."

freitasm

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#2695800 21-Apr-2021 09:45

antonknee:

cshwone: At 6.00am in Masterton? Doesn't merit an emergency call.

Arguably could merit a call to 105 (the non-emergency number). In any case, it looks like Metlink have notified some authorities.

This kind of thing really annoys me - one of the people handing them out hadn't even read the thing: " Volunteers for The Freedom Alliance positioned themselves at stations throughout the Wellington region on Tuesday handing out the flyer to commuters at peak hours. One of them, Mike, a self-confessed conspiracy theorist, admitted he did not know they had not been approved by the ministry and had not actually read it."

Quoting this again to reinforce how stupid these people are:

"One of them, Mike, a self-confessed conspiracy theorist, admitted he did not know they had not been approved by the ministry and had not actually read it."

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ezbee

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#2696051 21-Apr-2021 12:33

Victoria to develop mRNA COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing capacity in Australia
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-21/victoria-to-develop-mrna-covid19-vaccine-facilities/100083372

""
The Victorian government is providing $50 million to "kick-start" domestic manufacturing of mRNA vaccine technology.
""
Australia currently only has the ability to manufacture the AstraZeneca vaccine domestically, with initial plans for the CSL facility to make more than 50 million doses.
""

Longer term mRNA certainly holds promise in future cancer vaccines as well as quick turn on future viral threats.
So may have wider reason to have a foot in this technology.
Though ownership of IP could be limiting, maybe needs something like WiFi, where patents were licensed on fair value basis to help technology flourish. Rather than support monopoly given public money that supported development of IP all along the way.

With limited production capacity, locations.
We need all the other vaccine technologies too, so we don't bottleneck on having all our eggs in basket with limited precursor chemicals and manufacturing locations.

To get all the world with differing conditions and economies vaccinated.

Batman

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#2696052 21-Apr-2021 12:35

freitasm:

Quoting this again to reinforce how stupid these people are:

"One of them, Mike, a self-confessed conspiracy theorist, admitted he did not know they had not been approved by the ministry and had not actually read it."

of course he knows he's just lying

Jase2985

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#2696254 21-Apr-2021 20:44

cshwone:
Jase2985:

did you report this to the NZ police?

At 6.00am in Masterton? Doesn't merit an emergency call.

noone said call 111

many other ways to contact them

the standard you walk past is the standard you accept.

gzt

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#2696333 21-Apr-2021 22:21

ezbee:

Victoria to develop mRNA COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing capacity in Australia
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-21/victoria-to-develop-mrna-covid19-vaccine-facilities/100083372

""
The Victorian government is providing $50 million to "kick-start" domestic manufacturing of mRNA vaccine technology.
""
Australia currently only has the ability to manufacture the AstraZeneca vaccine domestically, with initial plans for the CSL facility to make more than 50 million doses.
""

Agree NZ needs to develop the capacity for both. I expect NZ has the building blocks required and just requires a kickstart. Not so much for the present issue as ability to respond to mutations.

Fred99

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#2696338 21-Apr-2021 23:03

gzt:

Agree NZ needs to develop the capacity for both. I expect NZ has the building blocks required and just requires a kickstart. Not so much for the present issue as ability to respond to mutations.

I think it's probably a very complex process, Pfizer make the vaccine in 3 plants, transferring partly complete product between them. and are dependant on third-party tech for supply of critical materials (lipids used as the encapsulant), probably protected by patents.

As I understand it, once set up, it's supposed to be easily scalable.

Of course NZ *could* probably do it, but we've got a domestic market of 5M, the C-19 vaccine makers are talking about making billions of doses. In Australia, the Victorian government is investing 50m into mRNA vaccine development, but they've got an established industry there.

IMO what we really need is a functional WHO and global treaty / cooperation on vaccines for the next pandemic which will surely come, and may be far far worse then C-19.

DS248

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#2696389 21-Apr-2021 23:43

Fred99: They've had thousands of confirmed infections >14 days after final dose in USA, 6,000 known, probably an underestimate.

Yes, well aware of those figures (& others).

Fred99: This is a 0.007% "failure rate" ... (neither technically correct, but it'll do - vaccination works very well so far).

Not just technically incorrect but wrong by a large margin. Would need to know how many of the vaccinated people were fully exposed to the virus to obtain any meaningful "failure rate" (and that likely, unknowable).

A factory makes 10,000 glass bowls and tests a sample of 100 by dropping them onto a hard surface. If three break, the "failure rate" is 3%, not 0.03%.

Fred99

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#2696390 21-Apr-2021 23:57

Sure. Another clue to the inaccuracy of that figure is that of the 6,000 or so known to have become infected, only 30% were asymptomatic, and more than 1% died. But I'll happily defend my comment that vaccination works very well so far.

DS248

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#2696391 21-Apr-2021 23:59

Fred99:

... But I'll happily defend my comment that vaccination works very well so far.

Fully agree with that.

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