‘The system has collapsed’: India’s descent into Covid hell
-
Lockdowns eased too quickly
India was praised for its swift lockdowns last year but there has been criticism of the government for allowing restrictions to ease too quickly. Modi, who has resisted suggestions that nationwide measures should be reintroduced has attracted fire for holding rallies without proper social distancing. Hindu festivals have also been allowed to go ahead, most notably the massive Kumbh Mela gathering in Haridwar which has attracted as many as 25 million people since January, including about 4.6 million last week alone, with most people ignoring Covid-19 guidelines.
-
There's also a new "double mutation" of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that is more infectious.
As @bachophile pointed out, easier transmissibility in a population is more deadly to the population than a more lethal mutation.
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
-
Cuomo probably has some vents he could spare...
-
@george-k said in ‘The system has collapsed’: India’s descent into Covid hell:
There's also a new "double mutation" of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that is more infectious.
Gonna get a lot more than that I suspect.
-
How did a country that had endured a comparatively mild pandemic for 12 months suddenly turn into a raging inferno? There are two theories. One, a la Chile, is that India believed it had COVID licked after many months of few infections so it let down its guard and relaxed restrictions. Movie theaters opened at full capacity on February 1. The prime minister, Narendra Modi, began holding mass rallies again and didn’t bother wearing a mask. (Which sounds familiar.) Last month the health minister arrogantly declared that the country was in the “endgame of the COVID-19 pandemic.” An epidemiologist writes today that “The mass political, religious and sporting events, which are extensively covered by the Indian media, sent mixed messages about the seriousness of the pandemic” and that “there is an unfounded sense among a large number of Indians that exposure to pollution and microbes had endowed them with superior immunity.”
The other factor in India’s outbreak is that they have a variant of their very own now. A “double-mutant,” in fact, so called because it has not one but two key mutations on the spike protein:
Scientists aren’t sure yet whether it’s meaningfully more contagious than the common coronavirus but the strain’s growing prevalence is a clue that it is. Doctors are understandably worried that the variant could theoretically break through the immunity provided by vaccines:
Every infected person is a laboratory for the virus to mutate into something more dangerous and India has more “laboratories” than any country on Earth except China. The virus is running millions of “experiments” there right now — each day. The fact that until recently the country had suffered only mild spikes in cases relative to western countries also should logically mean that there’s little natural immunity in the population to help slow down the current spread. How much worse it could get is anyone’s guess,
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
-
@george-k said in ‘The system has collapsed’: India’s descent into Covid hell:
How did a country that had endured a comparatively mild pandemic for 12 months suddenly turn into a raging inferno? There are two theories. One, a la Chile, is that India believed it had COVID licked after many months of few infections so it let down its guard and relaxed restrictions. Movie theaters opened at full capacity on February 1. The prime minister, Narendra Modi, began holding mass rallies again and didn’t bother wearing a mask. (Which sounds familiar.) Last month the health minister arrogantly declared that the country was in the “endgame of the COVID-19 pandemic.” An epidemiologist writes today that “The mass political, religious and sporting events, which are extensively covered by the Indian media, sent mixed messages about the seriousness of the pandemic” and that “there is an unfounded sense among a large number of Indians that exposure to pollution and microbes had endowed them with superior immunity.”
The other factor in India’s outbreak is that they have a variant of their very own now. A “double-mutant,” in fact, so called because it has not one but two key mutations on the spike protein:
Scientists aren’t sure yet whether it’s meaningfully more contagious than the common coronavirus but the strain’s growing prevalence is a clue that it is. Doctors are understandably worried that the variant could theoretically break through the immunity provided by vaccines:
Every infected person is a laboratory for the virus to mutate into something more dangerous and India has more “laboratories” than any country on Earth except China. The virus is running millions of “experiments” there right now — each day. The fact that until recently the country had suffered only mild spikes in cases relative to western countries also should logically mean that there’s little natural immunity in the population to help slow down the current spread. How much worse it could get is anyone’s guess,
@george-k said in ‘The system has collapsed’: India’s descent into Covid hell:
How did a country that had endured a comparatively mild pandemic for 12 months suddenly turn into a raging inferno? There are two theories. One, a la Chile, is that India believed it had COVID licked after many months of few infections so it let down its guard and relaxed restrictions. Movie theaters opened at full capacity on February 1. The prime minister, Narendra Modi, began holding mass rallies again and didn’t bother wearing a mask. (Which sounds familiar.) Last month the health minister arrogantly declared that the country was in the “endgame of the COVID-19 pandemic.” An epidemiologist writes today that “The mass political, religious and sporting events, which are extensively covered by the Indian media, sent mixed messages about the seriousness of the pandemic” and that “there is an unfounded sense among a large number of Indians that exposure to pollution and microbes had endowed them with superior immunity.”
The other factor in India’s outbreak is that they have a variant of their very own now. A “double-mutant,” in fact, so called because it has not one but two key mutations on the spike protein:
Scientists aren’t sure yet whether it’s meaningfully more contagious than the common coronavirus but the strain’s growing prevalence is a clue that it is. Doctors are understandably worried that the variant could theoretically break through the immunity provided by vaccines:
Every infected person is a laboratory for the virus to mutate into something more dangerous and India has more “laboratories” than any country on Earth except China. The virus is running millions of “experiments” there right now — each day. The fact that until recently the country had suffered only mild spikes in cases relative to western countries also should logically mean that there’s little natural immunity in the population to help slow down the current spread. How much worse it could get is anyone’s guess,
Yikes.
-
Thank the ChiComs for inventing the Wuhan Virus...
-
https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus/country/india
Argentina, Turkey and Sweden have more per capita. In fact, the US is about the same as India.
I doubt the trajectory is as scary as India's.
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
-
@george-k said in ‘The system has collapsed’: India’s descent into Covid hell:
Argentina, Turkey and Sweden have more per capita. In fact, the US is about the same as India.
I doubt the trajectory is as scary as India's.I also doubt that the testing regimes are comparable.
-
Mass cremations:
Link to video -
https://www.reuters.com/world/india/us-provide-vaccine-components-medical-supplies-india-2021-04-25/
The United States will immediately send raw materials for COVID-19 vaccines, medical equipment and protective gear to help India respond to a massive surge in coronavirus infections, U.S. President Joe Biden said on Sunday.
-
And should quarantine them for 14 days.
-
