Was reading this post and was absolutely terrified. It's gonna be bad.
Take away is that current lock downs are basically useless against the new strain as it has mutated enough to be more transmissible thru/around mask. Vaccines are still likely to work, and its not more deadly (seems like), but just going to blow thru our preventive measures like nothing.
Reposting because the first post didn't get enough traction and I need people to commiserate with me. Pulled out the money shot image, because I know libs don't read .
That's not necessarily a new deadly strain. In 2021, we just have better tools to study and nap the mutuations of Covid because we're past the initial panic.
Every region on Earth "had few cases up until recently, when suddenly the case numbers exploded". That's how outbreaks work!
What's happened is that regions that contained the early outbreak are suffering from fatigue, and without a vaccine or a past outbreak, loosening restrictions will inevitably lead to a spike. That's the issue with lockdowns - you have to do them forever.
The end result is the same, its gonna/is getting worse. But it would be weird, in my mind as a layman, if the virus didn't mutate to be more infectious. Lock downs are 1/3rd (at least/most? they aren't enough, is what i'm saying) of a proper pandemic response, for sure
The only way it could "get worse" in the US at least is if we stopped making people wear masks. We've basically had uncontrolled spread in every region of the country now. We're almost certainly going to reach "herd immunity" long before the vaccines get distributed to everyone. There's not really any "preventative measures" to blow through anyway, so pretty much don't let the news get you in a tizzy.
Oddly enough, in the UK (not sure about Ireland), I read that major supermarket chains didn't even start requiring masks until like 2 weeks ago lol.
tokyodrifttrollyproblem.jpeg
This is basically what already happened in every region of the US outside of NYC. Eventually, people got tired of the restrictions, so they got sloppy and welp, the virus spread. The whole "NEW STRAIN" is just because we can actually study it now. There's likely several strains everywhere, no one noticed them before it was just "Covid"