Brace Yourself.... Scientists suspect Lambda SARS-CoV-2 variant most dangerous

[Rustyeye77]

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20210730/Scientists-suspect-Lambda-SARS-CoV-2-variant-most-dangerous.aspx

The Lambda variant belongs to the C.37 lineage, which has been newly designated as a VOI on June 14, 2021, by WHO. This variant is predominantly spreading in South American countries that include Chile, Peru, Argentina, and Ecuador. According to the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID) database, the Lambda variant has been reported in 26 countries worldwide.

The rate of vaccination has been notably high in Chile. A recent study conducted in Chile has shown that around 60% of the population have received at least a single dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Recently, during the spring of 2021, a rapid surge in COVID-19 cases was observed in Chile. This is because the Lambda variant is capable of escaping the immune responses induced via vaccination.

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From what ive been reading , Lambda laughs at Delta

[Rustyeye77]

1. Basically, we're all F**ked.

[PSPS]

11. Only if you let your guard down. Stay masked, avoid crowds, get vaccinated, ignore all republicans

[Blue_true]

38. Exactly. nt

[pandr32]

2. Oh, crap!

What are we in for?

[Rustyeye77]

5. Don't ask.

Lambda doesn't care about vaccinations.

The Honey Badger of covid.

[Lettuce Be]

37. This made me laugh out loud -- honey badger don't care! Thanks need it

[hlthe2b]

3. Take a breath. 93% of Chile's vaccines used were Chinese inactivated Sinovac vaccine, (not mRNA)

More importantly, few have gotten more than one dose. Only 7% of vaccine administered were mRNA (Pfizer).

A lot to be looked at before drawing the conclusions this piece purports.

https://www.bmj.com/content/373/bmj.n1023
Covid-19: Spike in cases in Chile is blamed on people mixing after first vaccine shot

[qazplm135]

8. The issue is

That as long as we have so many unvaccinated, here and around the world, the "variant that evades current vaccines" is coming. Even the CDC says it's only a couple of mutations away.

So yeah, not lambda, but could be mu or some other variant with a Greek letter.

[hlthe2b]

9. Of course. But the conclusion that Lambda is NOW able to evade vaccine (all vaccine) and naturally-

-acquired immunity is (to be as kind as I can be) highly premature and claptrap as a current conclusion. Is it possible it or another will develop such ability? Yes. But right now, we need to concentrate on what is factual and NOT give the anti-vaxxers and skeptics more ammo against our best efforts to contain COVID-19.

[qazplm135]

44. Seems to me

We need to tell folks one of the major risks of so many people not being vaccinated

[hlthe2b]

47. Where exactly did I say otherwise?

However, your seeming need for hyperbole at the expense of scientific and medical truth is concerning and self-defeating. Sensationalized and very inaccurate articles that destroy faith in the vaccines are hardly the thing to increased vaccine compliance among the skeptical.

[qazplm135]

53. Lol

I don't think you understand what hyperbole means.

[grantcart]

20. Friends and relatives in Thailand say that the Chinese vaccine has been a complete failure

After months of very low numbers it has exploded there.

The Chinese vaccine is viewed as a complete failure.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

22. I've likewise seen that information, about

the Chinese vaccine being pretty useless.

Makes you wonder how many people in China have actually gotten sick and died, doesn't it? They're reporting fewer than 100,000 cases, and less than 5,000 deaths. I bet that's under reported by a vary large factor.

[grantcart]

40. Maybe not

They used the military to in force draconian forced quarantine procedures.

Everyone had to use a contact tracing app on their phone that everyone had to use to enter buildings and checkpoints. If you were tested negative then the phone showed green but if you were positive it would show red.

If someone you had contact with showed positive your phone would show red. People with red phones were segregated for 14 days and their rooms were sealed. The military would leave food and in force an absolute quarantine. Obviously everyone war masks all the time.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

42. And every single person has a phone? And how exactly are they

doing that contact tracing, given how pitiful their testing is. 160 million tests in a nation of 1.4 billion? That's well behind almost all of the rest of the world. So if they're doing so little testing, how exactly are they keeping track of who has tested positive and who has tested negative?

I also recall reports early in the pandemic that funeral homes and the like were reporting being completely overwhelmed with the dead. Which hardly matches the incredibly small number of people who have supposedly died from Covid.

Call me cynical, but given how they lied in the first place about Covid, I don't believe their case and death numbers are accurate. Not even remotely.

[grantcart]

45. Yes everyone is given a phone

Your statistics are correct but your analysis is completely wrong.

You don't need nationwide testing if you have contained the outbreak geographically. After the breakout all roads to Wigan were closed and all residents were confined to their homes.

The few areas that had local cases faced the same military occupation

South Korea similarly contained the initial outbreak and then had exhaustive testing for a brief period but didn't need large scale testing after that.

At the time of the outbreak there were 10 million foreign tourists in China and their political leaders hid the truth for a period to try and contain the economic damage. The US had a federal administration that continued to lie about the danger for months and embraced nonsensical unscientific remedies. We have state leaders that continue to mislead and pander untruths for economic tactics.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

48. I'm not disputing what you are saying,

but I still find China's numbers hard to believe. Even island countries like New Zealand and Australia keep on getting new cases. Unless China has actually kept any and all other people from coming into their country for the past 18 months, it's not believable that they aren't getting more new deaths than the trivial ones reported here: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

They themselves lied about the outbreak at first, and now won't let WHO back in to try to learn more or even figure out exactly where Covid 19 came from.

Plus, their testing does not seem to be increasing at all. Without ongoing testing, there's no way to know what's really going on. Trump himself understood when he said we'd have fewer cases if we didn't test so much. That was taken to mean he thought testing caused it, but I'll suggest he totally understood that our high numbers of cases and deaths were actually being reported by the tests.

If China has simply stopped testing -- at least the number of reported cases has remained exactly the same for at least four days -- then of course they have almost no new cases. It's a country of 1.4 billion people plus. Many of whom live in crappy conditions and have little or no access to health care.

No, I'm not buying it that they have it totally under control. Especially since their vaccine appears to be essentially worthless.

[grantcart]

50. Their military enforced quarantine created vast areas with no cases and no need for testing

Last week Banking airport had a cluster of 200 cases from a single breakout and it has spread to 14 locations. They will be enforcing strict follow up and quarantine.

The fact is that the US refused to implement modern technology for contact tracing.

Thailand (and Vietnam and Taiwan) also eliminated all local transmissions for many months. Thailand banned all foreigners entering the country and all Thais returning had to register with their embassy and upon arriving were taken to a government quarantine residence for 10 days.

One man got it locally from an unknown source. He was a DJ and had visited 3 discos while likely infectious. The government, using the phone tracing software everyone has was able to identify 800 people that were at the discos and had them tested and anybody who came into contact with the people who were positive. If you use the best available tech for contact tracing then you don't need massive nation wide testing.

While other countries use 21st century technology for contact tracing we are using 19th century technology. We can't even find out who else was on Manchin's boat where Graham got infected.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

52. Thank you for that information.

I did hear a story earlier today about a new breakout of Covid in China.

[Pobeka]

4. Serum study shows mRNA vaccines work just as well for Lambda as Delta.

https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.07.19.452771

I don't think this is a sky is falling variant, it's pretty similar to Delta for individuals vaccinated with Pfizer or Moderna.

[crickets]

7. Thank you. nt

[Rustyeye77]

10. Ok...thank you.

[stopdiggin]

13. +1 (nt)

[elevator]

14. I agree on this variant, but as many experts suspect, it could keep mutating to

a variant immune to any vaccine currently available. But, science will, given time, find a vaccine for that one. Which comes last, the chicken or the egg.

[Nevilledog]

15. The Colombian "Epsilon" Variant has arrived

Link to tweet

https://www.local10.com/news/local/2021/07/26/colombian-covid-variant-already-spreading-in-south-florida/

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – The Colombian variant may sound like the next concern in the COVID-19 crisis, but in South Florida, it’s already here.

Carlos Migoya, CEO of Jackson Health, revealed that now 10% of COVID-positive patients whose results are being sequenced at the University of Miami’s pathology lab have a strain that originated out of Colombia.

“And here’s a real shocking thing that’s spreading in Colombia quite a bit,” Migoya told Local 10 News. “And they haven’t seen it anywhere else outside of Colombia. Well, guess what? In the last week, 10% of our patients had the Colombian variant. Why? Because of the travel between Colombia and Miami.”

That sequencing lab reports the following percentages of variant cases among COVID positives:

Delta 49%

Brazilian 26%

Colombian 10%

What’s colloquially being called the Colombian variant is officially the B.1.621 variant. It has not yet been given a Greek name by the World Health Organization (like the Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gamma).

*snip*

[peppertree]

24. That Brazilian (Manaus) variant has wreaked havoc in the neighboring countries, as well as Brazil

In the last 5 months, since Manaus became prevalent there, South America has logged over 530,000 deaths - 300,000 of them in Brazil.

The U.S., by comparison, just under 100,000.

These South American variants really pack a punch.

But because Miami's the main entry point for South Americans (mainly the right-wing upper-middle class variety who are used to the rules not applying to them), and because Flawrida's deSantis refuses to do anything about it (right-wing South Americans vote for him blindly), we're fucked.

Pardon mon français

Thanks for posting this extremely important update.

[Merlot]

23. Good news, except for those of us who got J&J

Can I have my Moderna now?

[Maru Kitteh]

35. Have you tried? Maybe you can?

Apparently some people already have . . .

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/should-people-get-a-pfizer-booster-shot-after-receiving-johnson-johnson-experts-weigh-in-170437803.html

[obamanut2012]

49. Just go get an mRNA vax

No worries.

[Cinnamonspice]

31. Yay.

That means we can sit our happy tails down and not kiss them good-bye yet.

[Pobeka]

32. Precautions (indoor masks, social distancing, avoid crowds) is still warranted if you feel at risk.

I'm not worried at all about death, but long haul symptoms, yes I am erring on the side of caution. I have a lot of years left to live and a little inconvenience now to insure my body is in as good as shape as possible is worth it. Plus I don't want to be a vector to transmit the virus on to someone else.

Still eating take out if I don't feel like cooking.

[Cinnamonspice]

36. I've started putting the mask back on.

I think I'd be okay without it. However, from what I've read, the delta variant can go from my nose to somebody who is unvaccinated and kill them. It could also be passed onto a vaccinated person whose vaccine wasn't as effective due to immunity problems.

This really sucks because I have to put my mask back on mostly for people who won't take any precautions themselves. It's nuts. This is like trying to save some bratty teenager's life on a regular basis.


Sorry to go off on a delta rant when we are talking about a different variant. I guess the same applies there.

[Pobeka]

39. It's ok. I mask too. It's the prudent thing to do IMHO.

Remember too, that there are people with medical issues that can't be vaccinated, so perhaps your mask will prevent the virus from infecting one of those folks should you become infected.

I feel much better thinking of it that way.

Delta rant accepted

[agingdem]

6. the lambda variant isn't funny but

when my son was on a Little League team and they lost a real squeaker, their frustrated coach told them their hitting and fielding was by far the worst in the history of the team, and that's when one of the kids asked "so is today's worst ever hitting and fielding worse than last week's when you said our hitting and fielding was the worst ever?"... when I read headlines like "more dangerous than...." I think of that kid...we can go thru the whole damn Greek alphabet but the bottomline is this...get vaccinated and mask up and don't do stupid...

[stopdiggin]

12. real 'motivational' type of guy there, right?

Ah, yes - youth sports - when 10 year olds are demonstrating more 'character' than the adults. Sigh.

Back to the virus - I think it is important to point out the variant that is clobbering the U.S. right now is still the Delta - and if there were anything out there that was orders of magnitude more efficient than this - it stands to reason that its imprint would be fairly advanced here as well, by reason of competition.

[agingdem]

16. in the middle of the coach's tirade

my son asked to go to the bathroom...I thought that was great..still do...

[Tetrachloride]

17. My aunt and I both use high isolation methods.

My aunt is more at risk than me.

I am 5000 miles from the nearest traditional US territory.

[Cracklin Charlie]

19. After this weekend, I am basically in lockdown now.

Stocking up some groceries, and other supplies. I feel like a prepper.

[hadEnuf]

21. The GQP should like this one.

They can masturbate to the misery.

[Joinfortmill]

25. This virus won't quit.

[albacore]

26. Just waiting for the "Captain Trips Variant"....

[Fiendish Thingy]

27. Important note to balance out the hysterical click bait headline:

93% of vaccines in Chile are the Chinese made Sinovac, so a direct apples to apples projection for potential impact in other parts of the world cannot be made at this time.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

51. Nuance doesn't get clicks nt

[shenmue]

28. How many letters left in the Greek alphabet?

[Celerity]

43. 13 left out of the 24

here is the Greek alphabet

Again, you you will notice that we have used 11 Greek letters, but only 8 are in the VOI/VOC charts

that is because the Epsilon, Zeta, and Theta variants have fallen off the lowest level (VOI aka Variant of Interest)




https://www.who.int/en/activities/tracking-SARS-CoV-2-variants/

[roamer65]

29. Moderna was using the mRNA vaccine technology on a MERS vaccine when SARS-CoV-2 hit.

They quickly just used the new RNA segments from SARS-CoV-2.

The modular design allows for fast vaccine development. I’m not going to worry.

[PortTack]

33. exactly! Oxford has been working with SARS COV2 viruses and mRNA vaccines for the past decade

Tfg shouldn’t get any credit....he did nothing.

Science to the rescue

[Cinnamonspice]

30. Well then, let's kiss our asses goodbye.

[totodeinhere]

34. The article claims that the Lambda variant escapes immune responses from vaccines,

but we only have some preliminary information on this and more information is needed before we can draw any meaningful conclusions. But as a rule of thumb there will be variants more resistant to the current vaccines. We have always known that. So I think we are inevitably headed in the direction of a third booster shot.

[BannonsLiver]

41. The Lambdas are for realz

[alphafemale]

46. FEAR! TERROR! HORROR!

Since always.

A new apocalypse every damned week.

[Zeitghost]

54. Meanwhile

The mortality rate has plummeted since 7/1, total COVID deaths remain fairly flat and total excess deaths are down to 0.
But panic and fear create views/clicks.

[0rganism]

55. Coronavirus Alpha: "If you think I'm evil, well, just wait 'til you meet my variants."