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IseereydarReturns t1_jdizuf1 wrote

The old variants would have continued to mutate as they spread, they won't resemble them much. But, we still have a bit of a COVID problem.

The hospitalization rate for COVID may be in a valley right now, but look at that 'valley' in some countries. In Australia, it is just a bit below the Delta waves PEAK. We still have concerns about T cell damage and illnesses in general taking longer to get over due to this damage... I would keep up on epidemiologists sharing data online, and monitor their findings for anything alarming.

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LaconicLacedaemonian t1_jdjgswl wrote

But if something is alarming, what is there to be done at this point?

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psychoticdream t1_jdjoxrn wrote

Mitigation.

One of the biggest concerns is that the tcell damage makes it susceptible or oncogenic. Which might (note, "might") explain some cancer cases around the world.

So mitigation is important.

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SoHiHello t1_jdjhdxp wrote

Didn't Australia have very low peaks or am I thinking New Zealand?

Low peaks are easy to hit again without it being too problematic.

If India was hitting previous peaks I'd think we have a massive problem.

Can you give some context for Australia?

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Whimsical_manatee t1_jdjoy9m wrote

Australia had very aggressive lock downs to manage Delta, since most Australians still weren't vaccinated in the second half of 2021 and some states were entirely COVID free and wanted to stay that way.

The hard lockdowns significantly slowed the spread of Delta but weren't able to drop the numbers. In NZ they were able to reduce number of Delta cases but their lock downs were in even stricter (take-away food was closed for five weeks I recall) and ultimately they decided to relent a little, there was a hard boundary around Auckland and changed lockdown levels from 5 to 4 I believe.

I can't remember the Australian hospitalisations numbers from that time but you might be able to find them online somewhere, try ABC or Chris Billington.

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