Be fast, have no regretsIf you need to be right before you move, you will never win. – Mike Ryan, epidemiologist at WHO in March 2021.
The last blog was posted on 3rd August, which is almost a month ago. Not surprisingly, when to a whole lot has continued to happen and this pandemic is still blazing its destructive path across the world. One of the cravings we humans have in the midst of this unprecedented disaster, is the burning desire to pursue anything or any activity that resembles normal life. This can take on many forms. In our case we opted to escape to the amazing charms and allure of the Kruger National Park. Ten days of pure bliss; no TV news, no newspapers, mostly poor cell phone signal and no daily update on and the chaos it relentlessly heaps on humanity.
The new buzzword is delta, a variant which has proven to be the most rapidly spreading, randomly seeking out any country and infecting ever increasing numbers of people. So, countries like England and America, which were crowing about grand of their countries and economies, have had to apply maximum
brake pressure and their plans. We are back in virus panic mode; no doubt about that! There are a myriad of questions swirling; how should vaccinated people be changing their behaviour based on the delta variant? Virologists openly admit that this variant is a game changer, urging vaccinated people to continue wearing masks, although they do claim, based on empirical data, that those vaccinated are not extremely ill and hospitalised. Asymptomatic people are unlikely to spread if unvaccinated. Is vaccine efficacy waning as suggested by some data? The virologists consensus is emphatic; protection from severe disease remains very high for those vaccinated although the effectiveness has decreased somewhat in the face of delta but there remains excellent protection against severe disease, hospitalization and death. Many countries (including South Africa), are way behind in rolling out vaccinations. What is the outlook? Immunity is the only way out and there simply is not enough immunity delta. In America, many of the good folk of Arkansas have elected not to vaccinate and delta has raged through that state. The solutions include vaccine uptake, vaccine passports and the natural immunity developed through infection. These things need to happen throughout
The tragedy of this country. Self opiniated politicians and leaders get outrageous protection in their pursuit of self importance. Good citizens? Nothing!!!
the world so there is an imperative for all countries to ramp up vaccinations so that they help get humanity out of this mess sooner. I suspect many of the back marker countries in this equation simply do not have the resources or capability to get this critical vaccination job done. Look no further than sunny South Africa; as of 1st September, 2,8 million confirmed cases with 2,6 million recoveries (roughly 93 percent), 82,5 thousand deaths. Our problem is that only 7 million people are fully vaccinated which represents about 19 percent of the adult population (those older than 19). What is particularly interesting are the views of Emile Stripp, an actuary at Discovery Health who has suggested that almost 80 percent of the population may have contracted the virus. He has based his calculations on the rate and excess deaths, a measure of the number of with an historical average which are thought to provide a more accurate picture of the impact of the pandemic than the official numbers. He states; if we know the mortality rate of we can deduce the likely infection level. This high infection level could push us closer to herd immunity, estimated at between 80 and 90 percent of the population. The problem is the delta variant could reinfect those who contracted other variants.
Travelmates near
