# New Covid variant



## Sunny (Mar 21, 2022)

According to today's news, there is a new variant spreading rapidly. But it does respond to the vaccine and particularly to the booster. The news commentator urged people who have not yet received the booster to get one immediately.

Any new variant of this disease is bad, but this one doesn't sound like a cause for panic, Still, it might mean the masks have to come back on.


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## Lethe200 (Mar 21, 2022)

Designated as Omicron BA.2, it is considered more transmissible than the original BA.1 variant but although harder to detect, it looks like vaccinations/booster shots give the same immunity against severe illness/hospitalizations.

Unknown yet whether death rates will increase, as that's a lagging factor when counting # of people infected. It will soon become the most common coronavirus infection, and like all the other COVID variants, hits the unvaxxed more severely.

*New COVID variant is spreading across the US. Here's what you need to know about BA.2*
USA TODAY updated 21Mar2022
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...cron-variant-covid-19-coronavirus/7089686001/

(excerpt)
*Are vaccines and natural immunity effective against BA.2?*
Vaccines were shown to be as effective against BA.2 as they were against omicron BA.1, according to British scientists. That means the vaccines may not prevent infection, but they work well in fending off severe illness.

If you were infected by omicron BA.1, you may also have good protection against BA.2, according to the World Health Organization.

While reinfection is possible, studies suggest that infection with BA.1 "provides strong protection" against reinfection with BA.2.


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## win231 (Mar 21, 2022)

I can hardly wait for vaccines for variants BA.3 - BA.5,000.


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## Tish (Mar 21, 2022)

* Sigh*


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## Don M. (Mar 21, 2022)

If past history is any good indicator, this BA.2 variant will become fairly wide spread by May.  At least, it appears that it isn't as "potent" as Delta, so the vaccines and some minor precautions should protect most people.


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## Aunt Bea (Mar 21, 2022)

I agree with DonM.

I plan to keep doing the same common sense things that I've been doing.


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## oldman (Apr 9, 2022)

Don M. said:


> If past history is any good indicator, this BA.2 variant will become fairly wide spread by May.  At least, it appears that it isn't as "potent" as Delta, so the vaccines and some minor precautions should protect most people.


My best friend at United called me this morning and told me that my his and mine favorite flight attendant died last night from COVID, but didn’t know the variant. She was outstanding at her job and flew on the I’ll-fated flight back in ‘89 when the United plane crashed on landing. Capt. Haynes was the pilot in charge.

The worse news was that she was retiring in June. I’m making arrangements to attend her service as soon as I get the particulars.


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## Liberty (Apr 9, 2022)

Today, a good friend in Colorado said he knows about 10 people that have had Covid recently and that virtually all of them said it was basically like a cold.  They all go over it without incident. Lets hope its 
getting beaten down by now with the vaccines.  Someone ought to offer China some of the US vaccines, maybe it would help get things back to normal...ease some of the shortages.


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## oldman (Apr 9, 2022)

oldman said:


> My best friend at United called me this morning and told me that my his and mine favorite flight attendant died last night from COVID, but didn’t know the variant. She was outstanding at her job and flew on the I’ll-fated flight back in ‘89 when the United plane crashed on landing. Capt. Haynes was the pilot in charge.
> 
> The worse news was that she was retiring in June. I’m making arrangements to attend her service as soon as I get the particulars.


Pinky——This flight attendant (F/A) was young, much younger when she was on the plane when it crashed in Iowa and was commended for saving several by using her training and giving aid. She used to tell me that she often bid on my flights because she felt very safe. She was also a model before she was an F/A, but quit because of the politics in the industry at that time.


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## OneEyedDiva (Apr 12, 2022)

And this is why people shouldn't be relaxing their safety precautions..vaccinated or not.


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## Sunny (Apr 13, 2022)

oldman said:


> My best friend at United called me this morning and told me that my his and mine favorite flight attendant died last night from COVID, but didn’t know the variant. She was outstanding at her job and flew on the I’ll-fated flight back in ‘89 when the United plane crashed on landing. Capt. Haynes was the pilot in charge.
> 
> The worse news was that she was retiring in June. I’m making arrangements to attend her service as soon as I get the particulars.


That's so sad, Oldman.


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## oldman (Apr 15, 2022)

Sunny said:


> That's so sad, Oldman.


Yes it is and thank you.


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## Packerjohn (Apr 15, 2022)

There is more to life than worrying about what the media says.  The media can and will make us all sick.


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## Packerjohn (Apr 16, 2022)

I am not a news nerd; thank goodness.  I follow some of the stores on the internet but can't stand news on cable, newspaper nor the radio.

We had a huge snowstorm a couple of days ago.  It was one of those storms they call  "Colorado Lows" which means a lot of snow for a couple of days.  The media went crazy.  They said the coming storm is "The Storm of The Century."  They warned people to stock up on water, food and emergency stuff.  They warned that the power might go off.  There were photos on the internet of bare grocery shelves.  The parking lot of my local grocery store was packed on the day before the storm with people buying loads of groceries.  

The storm lasted 2 days.  Someone from the media said they were sorry they made a mistake and said that forecasting weather is an educated guess at the best of times.  It was all rather silly.  We are only 22 years into this century and still have 78 years to go.  Says I, how in the world do they know that this is the "Storm of the Century."  When I was a kid on the farm in the 1950s, we often had storms that went on for 3 days and 3 nights and no one got excited.  We somehow made it to the barn and let the cows just so they could have a drink of water while the storm raged on.  I remember shoveling the driveway.  I think this young generation is just too involved with zombies and the smartphone but they really need to get a touch more of reality.  "Storm of the Century," indeed!


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## Don M. (Apr 16, 2022)

Packerjohn said:


> I am not a news nerd; thank goodness.  I follow some of the stores on the internet but can't stand news on cable, newspaper nor the radio.


Any news media....especially TV news...has "selling commercials" as an equally high priority as the news itself.  The best way for them to do so is to make the stories as "sensational" as possible.  The average 30 minute broadcast is almost equally divided between the news and the commercials.  What cracks me up is when I flip channels and find the same commercial running on both.  Independent news????


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## win231 (Apr 16, 2022)

Packerjohn said:


> There is more to life than worrying about what the media says.  The media can and will make us all sick.


Without the media, I'd have never known about the thousands of Covid corpses lining hospital hallways & stored in meat trucks.


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## mrstime (Apr 16, 2022)

We are due for our 2nd booster, I guess.


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## Jeni (Apr 16, 2022)

In March, people who are fully vaccinated contracted COVID-19 about as much as those not fully vaccinated​*https://www.yahoo.com/news/march-people-fully-vaccinated-contracted-215338598.html*

The state Department of Health Services released new COVID-19 data for the first time in three months this week surrounding the differences in illness, hospitalization and death rates among residents not fully vaccinated and those fully vaccinated.

The DHS found that in March, those not fully vaccinated were being diagnosed with COVID-19 at a similar rate as those who were fully vaccinated. To be exact, people not fully vaccinated were diagnosed with COVID-19 at a rate 1.1 times higher than people who were fully vaccinated. The state attributes this finding to the omicron variant.

granted this is figures from one state Minnesota but it is any interesting item.


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## chic (Apr 17, 2022)

Packerjohn said:


> There is more to life than worrying about what the media says.  The media can and will make us all sick.


And some people just do not want this to end. Better beware of that also.


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