Brexit, for once some facts.

Danidl

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Yes, you are correct Danidl, consequently government are introducing a new distance of 2.4km for social distancing, which should see the original realistic time(15 mins) still been a safe one.. In exceptional circumstances 1.2km for 10 mins should be OK.
I will assume that tongue is firmly wedged against side of mouth.. but fortunately we don't need to go to those limits yet. Decimal point notwithstanding. The plume of emitted particles is much denser in the near field with Delta , but the spatial distribution is similar .. a spherical function overlaid on an double exponential decay.. one of which is time dependent the other height.. Anyone who ever did calculations on Radar signature cross section could model it. But . . Enough of this gobble gook, basically the old 3 metre limit still affords a lot of protection.
 

Zlatan

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Nov 26, 2016
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I will assume that tongue is firmly wedged against side of mouth.. but fortunately we don't need to go to those limits yet. Decimal point notwithstanding. The plume of emitted particles is much denser in the near field with Delta , but the spatial distribution is similar .. a spherical function overlaid on an double exponential decay.. one of which is time dependent the other height.. Anyone who ever did calculations on Radar signature cross section could model it. But . . Enough of this gobble gook, basically the old 3 metre limit still affords a lot of protection.
Yes, firmly tongue in cheek.... But staying as far away as possible from crowds, gatherings, communal events hardly affects most of us... Yes, I, ve missed out (tongue in cheek again) on Camper Calling (music festival for camper vans at Ragley Hall), and to be honest would still have attended were it not for upcoming cataract op. (a positive test tho not now (IMO) life threatening would delay everything another month. (Board masters, Cornwall music festival resulted in roughly 1 in 10 testing +ve)... So I, m distancing by a couple of hundred miles. And won't even wear a mask in my back garden.
 

POLLY

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Aug 10, 2016
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This morning's happy news:

Delta variant doubles risk of hospitalisation, new study finds
Outbreak of Delta Covid cases likely to put strain on health services in areas with low vaccination rates, experts say
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/27/delta-covid-variant-doubles-risk-hospitalisation-new-study-finds

The other day, I mentioned a double-vaccinated relative now in hospital. She has worsened and is on continuous oxygen and has been cannulated. From a personal point of view I still haven't quite got my head around patients have such ability to communicate thanks to texts and email, etc.

I have had two minor stays in hospital. Both many years ago, abroad, and no patient phones available.
B.S
 
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POLLY

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Aug 10, 2016
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I hope she recovers. I was doing some mental arithmetic regarding this Delta variant, and the conclusion is worrying. When the original or Wuhan variant emerged, the general advice was that any 15 minute encounter between two unmasked persons, one infected ,the other not, at a distance of less than 1 metre carried a notifiable risk of infection,and of course all those pinging apps etc were based on that model. Well since Delta is 1200 times more productive, that encounter time is now a SECOND. And since vaccination gives about around a ten fold protection bonus, . 10 seconds for any infection or 2 minutes for a serious one
B.S
 
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POLLY

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Once again the experts are getting this wrong, I'm frankly getting sick of them and their false predictions.

I've posted a couple of times a while ago about how little we are suffering here and yesterday's national news brought support for what I've been saying. It was announced that London was one of the only four areas where Covid isn't increasing, despite the Delta variant. And in my large London Borough of Croydon, London's second largest, we are doing even better. And that is not due to a lower testing rate as someone suggested last time, our testing rate is similar and our death rate currently zero.

Yet completely contradictory to what the experts are saying, our vaccination rates are the opposite, lower in London and far lower in Croydon, still 20 points lower just as I've reported previously so that is also consistent. Here's the current vaccination dose ratios in round numbers:

National: First 88%, Second 78%

London: First 82%, Second 70%

Croydon: First 67%, Second 58%

Yet London's Covid rates not rising and Croydon's still falling.

So why are we not suffering in the predicted way?

I gave part of the answer right at the beginning of the pandemic when London was suffering 2.5 times the rate as the rest of the country and Croydon the highest of all in London. I said it would benefit us later, and it did, since as the rest of the country started to catch up with us, our rates were falling, both London and Croydon.

Against huge opposition, my mantra throughout since then has been, since we can't stop it, lets get it over with more quickly. Not herd immunity, that doesn't exist, just reduced vulnerability through prior infection.

My explanation as to why we are suffering so much less from Delta when all around us are, despite our very low vaccination rates, is twofold:

First is that the very high earlier infection rates with far less virulent strains has given us some protection against the Delta's high infectivity.

Second that the vaccines protective benefits have been greatly exaggerated, as the current national Delta spread shows, against their high national vaccination rates.
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B.S
 
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oldgroaner

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Yes, you are correct Danidl, consequently government are introducing a new distance of 2.4km for social distancing, which should see the original realistic time(15 mins) still been a safe one.. In exceptional circumstances 1.2km for 10 mins should be OK.
Are these approved distances in the horizontal or vertical plane, or indeed specified as upwind only?
 
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flecc

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Oct 25, 2006
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Sorry flecc I have to respond to that. What you say is untrue. And dangerously misleading. Previous infection with covid - more so with Kent variant - gives poor to no protection after six months against delta variant.
You carry on believing your pet experts and their stats.

The same experts who so consistently get it wrong, the same experts who later unashamedly revise what they predicted to try to appear right after all.

I prefer to believe what is actually happening.

As usual with so many in here, you contradict without offering any other explanation for something that is actually happening.

If your experts were right, London would be suffering more from Delta than most places and my London Borough of Croydon would be suffering terribly. After all, we we were among the first in the country to get the Delta variant.

Yet here we are, with London one of only a tiny number of places in the country not worsening and my borough doing even better. It's difficult to get better than a zero death rate.

And you ignored my supporting evidence that the claims of vaccine benefits are grossly exaggerated. Again if the claims were correct, we in Croydon with our very low vaccination rates would be suffering very badly and Scotland with its high vaccination rate wouldn't be suffering as badly as it is.

In the absence of any other explanation, our local previous very high infection rates are protecting us to a fair extent from the delta variant present here, since it's certain our low vaccination rate isn't.
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oyster

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Nov 7, 2017
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I hope she recovers. I was doing some mental arithmetic regarding this Delta variant, and the conclusion is worrying. When the original or Wuhan variant emerged, the general advice was that any 15 minute encounter between two unmasked persons, one infected ,the other not, at a distance of less than 1 metre carried a notifiable risk of infection,and of course all those pinging apps etc were based on that model. Well since Delta is 1200 times more productive, that encounter time is now a SECOND. And since vaccination gives about around a ten fold protection bonus, . 10 seconds for any infection or 2 minutes for a serious one
Sent her a little something in the post today. :)

I don't go down the route of accepting the possibility of such an arithmetic approach.
 
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Woosh

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Yet here we are, with London one of only a tiny number of places in the country not worsening and my borough doing even better. It's difficult to get better than a zero death rate.
one possibility is the number of people who have antibodies in Croydon is about same as national average (90%), = vaccinated + having had Covid. Less of the former and more of the latter.
 
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Zlatan

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Nov 26, 2016
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Sent her a little something in the post today. :)

I don't go down the route of accepting the possibility of such an arithmetic approach.
The better mathematician you are the more scope to make numbers say what you want.
I, ve agreed with flecc's last post, which I do in principal but don't think it's as simple as saying London situation proves vaccination hasn't accounted for their situation. Vaccination must have helped both Scotland and London, what I suspect it proves is their are aspects at play nobody as yet as identified. Throughout all this the one thing that has been proven is events neither fit a pattern and rarely go according to experts predictions, either good or bad. Personally don't think anyone anywhere has actually got a handle on this. Things could deteriorate terribly this winter or they could be way better than "experts" predict. The frightening aspect is nobody actually knows. Sorry flecc, much as I agree with most of.what you say, not even you and especially so our government and Ferguson etc.
I do suspect we may well be back in lockdown this autumn, in theory, but doubt people will respond as requested next time.
 
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Zlatan

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And completely off topic.
Qualifying stopped in Belgium. Its raining too much. Just proves how inappropriate F1 cars are. It's like closing M1 because it's raining. If track is too slippy build a car that copes better, would probably help safety more than anything else. Rally cars never stop, perhaps have reserve bad weather cars used in bad conditions. In poor conditions a well set up Lancia Integrale /Audi Quattro/Metro 6R4 would be way quicker than F1... Get them out... Or developments of them.
 
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Zlatan

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And there wouldn't be the difference in performance most would assume.. The old (now stopped) Group B rally cars were unbelievably quick and even in dry, with benefit of 4wd would have given F1 cars of the day (mid 80s) a run for their money on twisty tracks. 30 years development for wet weather /safety and what could we have.??
 
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flecc

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Oct 25, 2006
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one possibility is the number of people who have antibodies in Croydon is about same as national average (90%), = vaccinated + having had Covid. Less of the former and more of the latter.
Supporting exactly what I said, that previous infections with milder strains gives some protection against the Delta variant as well. Except we must have much more of the latter protection since we are performing better than the rest of the country, not the same, but with far fewer jabs.

Contrary to the expert advice that Jonathan also believes.

In my book for any average person, every and any infection caught imparts some degree of later immunity against it, regardless of variants.
.
 

Zlatan

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Nov 26, 2016
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Supporting exactly what I said, that previous infections with milder strains gives some protection against the Delta variant as well. Except we must have much more of the latter protection since we are performing better than the rest of the country, not the same, but with far fewer jabs.

Contrary to the expert advice that Jonathan also believes.

In my book for any average person, every and any infection caught imparts some degree of later immunity against it, regardless of variants.
.
Doesn't that contradict your previous argument suggesting under 10% of population had been affected. (I think originally you said only 3% had, Danidl pointed out 10% had had disease)
Can't see how 10% having better resistance could affect overall figures, unless other things are also coming into play.. Like vaccinations etc.
 

flecc

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Oct 25, 2006
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Vaccination must have helped both Scotland and London, what I suspect it proves is their are aspects at play nobody as yet as identified.
I've never disputed that vaccination helps, only insisted the benefits have been repeatedly exaggerated and proven to be. Remember all the claims of circa 95% protection against catching Covid? What nonsense that turned out to be. As I posted long ago to much agreement, they aren't vaccines, they are antigens, bettering the disease outcomes to some extent.

I believe I have identified the critical aspect at play, it's previous infection rates, and the facts support that in both London and Croydon with their extremely high initial rates. Against much opposition in here I maintained last year that would help us later, and it did, right through last summer with our rates falling while the rest of the country's rose.

In the total absence of any other explanation, I believe it's once again why we are doing so much better against delta than elsewhere, despite lower vaccination rates which are very much lower in my area.
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sjpt

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I think the reason for relatively lower rates in London is that the virus has realized (as have many humans) that life is better in the country.
 
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flecc

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Oct 25, 2006
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Doesn't that contradict your previous argument suggesting under 10% of population had been affected. (I think originally you said only 3% had, Danidl pointed out 10% had had disease)
Can't see how 10% having better resistance could affect overall figures, unless other things are also coming into play.. Like vaccinations etc.
Those were national population figures.

Our London and Croydon infection figures were far, far higher. London initially was said to be at 2.5 time the national infection rate and Croydon the highest of all the London boroughs in the first two months. I remember estimates of 25% of Londoners having been infected summer 2020.
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Danidl

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I've never disputed that vaccination helps, only insisted the benefits have been repeatedly exaggerated and proven to be. Remember all the claims of circa 95% protection against catching Covid? What nonsense that turned out to be. As I posted long ago to much agreement, they aren't vaccines, they are antigens, bettering the disease outcomes to some extent.

I believe I have identified the critical aspect at play, it's previous infection rates, and the facts support that in both London and Croydon with their extremely high initial rates. Against much opposition in here I maintained last year that would help us later, and it did, right through last summer with our rates falling while the rest of the country's rose.

In the total absence of any other explanation, I believe it's once again why we are doing so much better against delta than elsewhere, despite lower vaccination rates which are very much lower in my area.
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That 95% protection from vaccination was not nonsensical at the time.. unfortunately the virus had not read the scientific papers.
 
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