IOM Covid removing restrictions

[Barlow]

3 hours ago, TerryFuchwit said:

Largely from those who are usually hysterical anyway.

I do wonder what some people are moaning about.  Nothing stopping them from staying in/shielding  etc themselves.  

There's a small number of cases.  The health service isn't overwhelmed.  

Really. Who told you? Your mate down the pub? Aye, your mate down the fucking boozer?

The health services/ITU is under strain as it is. Right here, right now. 'Covid-free' Isle of Man.

You happy to wheel a few Covid cases in there to see how they cope?

Edited February 23, 2021 by Barlow

[AcousticallyChallenged]

15 minutes ago, Newbie said:

I am not sure that is true though is it?. There are certainly several thousand strains of Sars cov 2. The website here puts it at 3931 worldwide, though doubtless there will be strains that haven't had genomic studies done. Either way, during that time there have been over 100 million people infected worldwide, so clearly it doesn't mutate every time it gets transmitted. In fact, if the figure is anywhere near correct, it overwhelmingly doesn't mutate when it passes from one person to another, and it is apparently considered to be a very stable virus.

If that is the case, whilst I can see the value of genomics in trying to connect seemingly unrelated cases, and looking back at historic data (and every little helps in the fight), some of the claims about its ability to track routes of transmission seem a bit optimistic. Perhaps I have misunderstood something and @rachomics might have a take on it

This is where it gets confusing. You're completely right with the number of strains etc. But, we're looking beyond just the strains.

When you sequence the virus, you get, per Dr G's blog, you get tens of thousands of individual bits of data, describing the make-up of the virus. If you can look at all of those, you can build up a clear picture of how that sample directly relates to another.

In samples of the same strain, a number of those bits of data will match, letting you know you're looking at that strain. But, you then look at the rest as well, that gives you those mutations, or, copying errors, that give you the really detailed genomics.

 

 

[TerryFuchwit]

7 minutes ago, Barlow said:

Really. Who told you? Your mate down the pub? Aye, your mate down the fucking boozer?

The health services/ITU is under strain as it is. Right here, right now. 'Covid-free' Isle of Man.

You happy to wheel a few Covid cases in there to see how they cope?

Seems a bit TJ style over dramatic.

You're going to have to learn to live with Covid.  As scary a thought as that might be to you.

[Banker]

Looks like the borders easing policy document will be released shortly after all MHKs have had input , god knows what Moorehouse & Cregeen will add in!!!

[John Wright]

3 minutes ago, Banker said:

Looks like the borders easing policy document will be released shortly after all MHKs have had input , god knows what Moorehouse & Cregeen will add in!!!

Are the seagulls observing the T&C’s of their entry certificate direction notices? We should be told.

[Barlow]

19 minutes ago, TerryFuchwit said:

Seems a bit TJ style over dramatic.

You're going to have to learn to live with Covid.  As scary a thought as that might be to you.

I see where you are coming from, and your continued confidence is admirable.

Yes it is scary. Have you ever been in an ITU ward? Covid is a particularly nasty turn in that respect and one that must be avoided at 'any' cost.

At the moment we can choose to live without Covid - the Isle of Man is in control. (ok, up to a point). 

It would not take much for the likes of Douglas Corporation's 'mass death' contingencies to come into force for example.

 

Edited February 23, 2021 by Barlow

[Gladys]

1 hour ago, Happier diner said:

Good. But not vital. Its that tool that's in my toolbox that I only use for special projects. Think its called a spirit level.

Yeah, I never bother with one of them either, judge it by eye!

[Banker]

6 minutes ago, Barlow said:

I see where you are coming from, and your continued confidence is admirable.

Yes it is scary. Have you ever been in an ITU ward? Covid is a particularly nasty turn in that respect and one that must be avoided at 'any' cost.

At the moment we can choose to live without Covid - the Isle of Man is in control. (ok, up to a point). 

It would not take much for the likes of Douglas Corporation's 'mass death' contingencies to come into force for example.

 

Well hopefully the new borders policy will set out when we can all start traveling again as Ashie said we are part of a world economy and can't stay in permanent isolation although some would like it.

[John Wright]

5 minutes ago, Gladys said:

Yeah, I never bother with one of them either, judge it by eye!

Recc’ o’th’ee

[wrighty]

2 hours ago, madmanxpilot said:

To be fair, the Java Express was listed as a 'Location of Interest' on Friday 19th and people who were in there between the specified times on the previous Tuesday were asked to be extra vigilant regarding the development symptoms. What else could they (IOMG) have done and how would genomics have changed anything in the subsequent timeline?

Or am I missing something?

My point was meant to be that 42 hours wasn't so bad a wait when announcements were routinely about things 5 days ago.  It wasn't a comment on the gov's performance on the Java cases.

[Newbie]

1 hour ago, AcousticallyChallenged said:

This is where it gets confusing. You're completely right with the number of strains etc. But, we're looking beyond just the strains.

When you sequence the virus, you get, per Dr G's blog, you get tens of thousands of individual bits of data, describing the make-up of the virus. If you can look at all of those, you can build up a clear picture of how that sample directly relates to another.

In samples of the same strain, a number of those bits of data will match, letting you know you're looking at that strain. But, you then look at the rest as well, that gives you those mutations, or, copying errors, that give you the really detailed genomics.

 

 

My understanding is that the SARS CoV 2 virus has around 30,000 proteins in its genome and that is the information you get from the sequence. It is variations in the sequence of those proteins (copying errors as you say) that constitute mutations and lead to new strains. There are thousands of known changes, and there are databases that record those. They can be grouped together based upon how similar they are to one another genetically to form an enormous family tree

However, again as I understand it, there aren't 100 million strains, so in the vast majority of cases the viral RNA replicates perfectly and there isn't a mutation giving rise to a new strain. In that situation, the viral RNA isolated from one person will be identical to the viral RNA isolated from someone they have passed the virus to. That provides very strong evidence that one person caught it from the other, although they could also have both caught it from an unidentified 3rd person. I can see how that is helpful when looking back to fully understand a particular cluster or group of clusters, but I don't really see how it would change your approach within the first 24 hours of contact tracing. 

Again, perhaps I am missing something, but just trying to get my head round it really. The nomenclature of lineages, variants and strains doesn't help the have a go amateur virologist!

[Gladys]

4 minutes ago, Newbie said:

My understanding is that the SARS CoV 2 virus has around 30,000 proteins in its genome and that is the information you get from the sequence. It is variations in the sequence of those proteins (copying errors as you say) that constitute mutations and lead to new strains. There are thousands of known changes, and there are databases that record those. They can be grouped together based upon how similar they are to one another genetically to form an enormous family tree

However, again as I understand it, there aren't 100 million strains, so in the vast majority of cases the viral RNA replicates perfectly and there isn't a mutation giving rise to a new strain. In that situation, the viral RNA isolated from one person will be identical to the viral RNA isolated from someone they have passed the virus to. That provides very strong evidence that one person caught it from the other, although they could also have both caught it from an unidentified 3rd person. I can see how that is helpful when looking back to fully understand a particular cluster or group of clusters, but I don't really see how it would change your approach within the first 24 hours of contact tracing. 

Again, perhaps I am missing something, but just trying to get my head round it really. The nomenclature of lineages, variants and strains doesn't help the have a go amateur virologist!

At least you are having a go to understand the science rather than just blindly quote articles that support your view.

[AcousticallyChallenged]

9 minutes ago, Newbie said:

My understanding is that the SARS CoV 2 virus has around 30,000 proteins in its genome and that is the information you get from the sequence. It is variations in the sequence of those proteins (copying errors as you say) that constitute mutations and lead to new strains. There are thousands of known changes, and there are databases that record those. They can be grouped together based upon how similar they are to one another genetically to form an enormous family tree

However, again as I understand it, there aren't 100 million strains, so in the vast majority of cases the viral RNA replicates perfectly and there isn't a mutation giving rise to a new strain. In that situation, the viral RNA isolated from one person will be identical to the viral RNA isolated from someone they have passed the virus to. That provides very strong evidence that one person caught it from the other, although they could also have both caught it from an unidentified 3rd person. I can see how that is helpful when looking back to fully understand a particular cluster or group of clusters, but I don't really see how it would change your approach within the first 24 hours of contact tracing. 

Again, perhaps I am missing something, but just trying to get my head round it really. The nomenclature of lineages, variants and strains doesn't help the have a go amateur virologist!

So my understanding is we have 2 things:

The strain - a strain is a set of mutations that give the virus a particular behaviour, for example, making it more infectious. Any sample of that strain has those mutations, so will likely behave in a similar way. For example, the UK strain had a number of functional mutations to change how it attaches to cells. A viral sample with non-functional or minor mutations won't count as a new strain, as the key parts are all the same.

Whilst SARS CoV 2 has a proof reading mechanism, to stop mistakes being made when copying itself, the error rate in that replication is still very high.

Lineage - This is the family tree style linking of cases, and what people talk about when they say that a virus is from the same lineage e.g B.1.1.7 (snazzy names scientists come up with). In the case of B.1.1.7, that lineage became defined as the UK strain, as it came with a set of spike mutations changing how infectious it is.

 Lineage is what we're talking about with the tracing genomics. The proteins make a certain number of mistakes when they're replicated, which is what the sequencer looks for, and where those 30,000 data points come from. Instead of just looking for the sequences that match a known strain, you compare all of those points to your known data, to identify how the cases are linked.

Lineages are also used to work out how many times the virus has been imported, for example.

 

[Boo Gay'n]

1 hour ago, Banker said:

Looks like the borders easing policy document will be released shortly after all MHKs have had input , god knows what Moorehouse & Cregeen will add in!!!

New Castle Rushen High School

New Castle Rushen High School

New Castle Rushen High School

Err...that's it.

[Albert Tatlock]

Interesting in the briefing that Ashford clearly dumped responsibility from any individual SP employee breaching the rules to Corporate SP responsibility for breaches of the rules. Basically a 'get out of jail' card for the employees of that 'Monopoly'.

So as owners of the SP, the government could effectively fine the SP £10m for any breach, knock £10m off the cost of the pandemic and claim a victory...and be home in time for cornflakes.

Though £5 says it will be 'lessons have been learned' ...yet again - and no one gets held to account ...yet again.