Lockdown diaries - COVID-19 matters!
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CCMA rules in favour of company who fired an employee for refusing to be vaccinated
https://www.capetownetc.com/news/cc...red-an-employee-for-refusing-to-be-vaccinated
26 Jan. 2022
"The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) has made headlines after reportedly dismissing an application of an employee of the Gold Rush Group who was fired for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
According to SABC News, Gold Rush Group introduced mandatory vaccinations to protect its employees, and in the arbitration award, it was said that Theresa Mulderij’s dismissal was on the grounds of not creating a safe working environment for her co-workers.
The CCMA found that Mulderij’s dismissal was fair, considering she did not comply with company regulations and adhere to the mandatory vaccination policy, News24 adds.
However, Mulderiji maintained that it was her constitutional human right to refuse the COVID-19 vaccination.
This ruling could soon spill over to other companies that have a mandatory vaccine policy in place."
https://www.capetownetc.com/news/cc...red-an-employee-for-refusing-to-be-vaccinated
26 Jan. 2022
"The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) has made headlines after reportedly dismissing an application of an employee of the Gold Rush Group who was fired for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
According to SABC News, Gold Rush Group introduced mandatory vaccinations to protect its employees, and in the arbitration award, it was said that Theresa Mulderij’s dismissal was on the grounds of not creating a safe working environment for her co-workers.
The CCMA found that Mulderij’s dismissal was fair, considering she did not comply with company regulations and adhere to the mandatory vaccination policy, News24 adds.
However, Mulderiji maintained that it was her constitutional human right to refuse the COVID-19 vaccination.
This ruling could soon spill over to other companies that have a mandatory vaccine policy in place."
The fat lady has not yet sung ... hang in there ...
Constitutional Court could have final say on mandatory Covid-19 vaccination
https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics...cination-71aebf46-c700-40d4-8501-93d1ba224c59
https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/what-now-how-pandemics-end
What now? How pandemics end
How do we prepare?
We strengthen our tools. And we use them wisely.
Increase vaccine uptake. We can’t transmit a virus we don’t have. Vaccines reduce transmission in several ways. So, we increase our booster rate. Concurrently we define and recalibrate our national goals of the COVID-19 vaccines. Do we need an Omicron-specific vaccine? Probably not. But, how do predict what the next dose should look like? How do we better support next generation vaccines, like the pan-coronavirus super vaccine? We also decrease our unvaccinated rate by approaching hesitancy with empathy and open ears. But, we cannot have a “vaccine only” approach.
Continue to wear masks. Masks, on average, reduce transmission by 56%. This isn’t great, but it’s not nothing. If we upgrade to N95/KN94/KF94, we reduce transmission up to 95%. And, this includes kids in school. There is zero evidence that masks harm, physically or psychologically, kids. There is evidence, though, that masks reduce transmission among kids in school.
Invest in better filtration systems. HEPA filters reduce transmission by 65%. One HEPA filter equates to 2 windows open (2.5-fold decrease in transmission). This will undoubtedly help keep businesses, schools, childcares open if, and when, another variant arrives.
Scale up antigen testing. We need to empower people to break transmission chains. So, we need better access to tests. Four antigen tests per home free of charge was a great start. But we can’t stop there. There are blaring equity issues and we can do better. Once people get them, we need to let people use them. There is no reason an antigen test can’t be used for test-to-stay policies at schools and childcares. There’s no reason why a PCR must be used for clearance.
Increase supply of therapeutics. Therapeutics are a game changer for this pandemic. While they can’t prevent infection, they are very effective at preventing severe disease. They will alleviate stress on our health systems. The drug is going to change how we, as a society, look at disease— COVID19 will be treatable. By April we will have a million doses. By September, we will have 20 million doses. But is that enough supply? The federal government needs to take the risk and assume that it’s not enough. We shouldn’t just ramp up supply of the Pfizer pill (which has limitations), but also support other companies to test risky, innovative science. Antivirals are difficult to make, but our goal should be 2-4 more therapeutic options in 2022.
Strengthen surveillance: Much to my surprise, COVID19 metrics largely held up during the Omicron wave: test positivity rate was followed by case trends, which was followed by hospitalizations and deaths. The raw number of cases or tests are not to be trusted, but the pattern is still solid for surveillance. I suspect this will change with more and more antigen tests, though. This means we need to strengthen our surveillance system proactively. Develop a systematic, national reporting platform in which antigen test results can be documented. We should also implement wastewater surveillance. But, teams need to be created and supported across the nation to do this.
Communicate. We desperately need top down communication. The CDC needs to come out from hiding and let their experts talk. We need weekly updates. But, more than that, we need a plan. We need to develop and communicate offramps and goals. If public health officials don’t, then other people will. And, when we don’t like their plan, we have no right to complain.
We also need bottom up communication. People need their questions answered. But, more importantly, we need to hear their perspectives. Only a multidisciplinary approach will get us out of this pandemic. Different perspectives will offer innovative solutions.
Bottom Line: There will be an end, it’s just not how you pictured it. The journey to reach stasis is dependent on the virus, our population-level policies, and our individual-level decisions. It will depend on how we prepare and if we do it wisely. Together this will determine how many more people die, how many people get long COVID, how long the journey takes, how many mutations we have, how many vaccine doses we need, and, importantly how we keep sane and united. Our road to an endemic state doesn’t have to be bumpy. Whatever that path is, though, we will get to the end eventually.
What now? How pandemics end
How do we prepare?
We strengthen our tools. And we use them wisely.
Increase vaccine uptake. We can’t transmit a virus we don’t have. Vaccines reduce transmission in several ways. So, we increase our booster rate. Concurrently we define and recalibrate our national goals of the COVID-19 vaccines. Do we need an Omicron-specific vaccine? Probably not. But, how do predict what the next dose should look like? How do we better support next generation vaccines, like the pan-coronavirus super vaccine? We also decrease our unvaccinated rate by approaching hesitancy with empathy and open ears. But, we cannot have a “vaccine only” approach.
Continue to wear masks. Masks, on average, reduce transmission by 56%. This isn’t great, but it’s not nothing. If we upgrade to N95/KN94/KF94, we reduce transmission up to 95%. And, this includes kids in school. There is zero evidence that masks harm, physically or psychologically, kids. There is evidence, though, that masks reduce transmission among kids in school.
Invest in better filtration systems. HEPA filters reduce transmission by 65%. One HEPA filter equates to 2 windows open (2.5-fold decrease in transmission). This will undoubtedly help keep businesses, schools, childcares open if, and when, another variant arrives.
Scale up antigen testing. We need to empower people to break transmission chains. So, we need better access to tests. Four antigen tests per home free of charge was a great start. But we can’t stop there. There are blaring equity issues and we can do better. Once people get them, we need to let people use them. There is no reason an antigen test can’t be used for test-to-stay policies at schools and childcares. There’s no reason why a PCR must be used for clearance.
Increase supply of therapeutics. Therapeutics are a game changer for this pandemic. While they can’t prevent infection, they are very effective at preventing severe disease. They will alleviate stress on our health systems. The drug is going to change how we, as a society, look at disease— COVID19 will be treatable. By April we will have a million doses. By September, we will have 20 million doses. But is that enough supply? The federal government needs to take the risk and assume that it’s not enough. We shouldn’t just ramp up supply of the Pfizer pill (which has limitations), but also support other companies to test risky, innovative science. Antivirals are difficult to make, but our goal should be 2-4 more therapeutic options in 2022.
Strengthen surveillance: Much to my surprise, COVID19 metrics largely held up during the Omicron wave: test positivity rate was followed by case trends, which was followed by hospitalizations and deaths. The raw number of cases or tests are not to be trusted, but the pattern is still solid for surveillance. I suspect this will change with more and more antigen tests, though. This means we need to strengthen our surveillance system proactively. Develop a systematic, national reporting platform in which antigen test results can be documented. We should also implement wastewater surveillance. But, teams need to be created and supported across the nation to do this.
Communicate. We desperately need top down communication. The CDC needs to come out from hiding and let their experts talk. We need weekly updates. But, more than that, we need a plan. We need to develop and communicate offramps and goals. If public health officials don’t, then other people will. And, when we don’t like their plan, we have no right to complain.
We also need bottom up communication. People need their questions answered. But, more importantly, we need to hear their perspectives. Only a multidisciplinary approach will get us out of this pandemic. Different perspectives will offer innovative solutions.
Bottom Line: There will be an end, it’s just not how you pictured it. The journey to reach stasis is dependent on the virus, our population-level policies, and our individual-level decisions. It will depend on how we prepare and if we do it wisely. Together this will determine how many more people die, how many people get long COVID, how long the journey takes, how many mutations we have, how many vaccine doses we need, and, importantly how we keep sane and united. Our road to an endemic state doesn’t have to be bumpy. Whatever that path is, though, we will get to the end eventually.
https://phys.org/news/2022-01-sars-cov-spike-protein-human-endogenous.html
Sars-CoV-2 spike protein activates human endogenous retroviruses in blood cells
Sars-CoV-2 spike protein activates human endogenous retroviruses in blood cells
Can someone that knows what is being said here please translate it for me?
Regards
Thanks for that ... So as I understand the article;
The SARS-CoV-2 spike protein activates the envelope (ENV) protein encoded by HERV-W in our blood cells, creating the pathological features, (symptoms in this context), of the disease, and that when they added a recombinant trimeric spike protein to infected / affected cells, they stabilised mutations of peripheral blood mononuclear cells, and it gave immediate and significant upregulation of the RNAs for the ENV protein from both HERV-W and HERV-K cells, which reflects an underlying genetic susceptibility, (which we already know). The history of HERVs, (human endogenous retroviruses), is of previous integration of virus' into our genome, BUT ... subsequent deactivation ... so they're not really telling us anything that we don't already know ... We need to kickstart our immunity, (the deactivation mentioned above).
Very basically, human beings have been infected by viruses for as long human beings and their ancestors crawl out of the muck and existed. Some of these viruses achieved full integration with our species and their DNA has been passed down through the ages. The DNA has been become what's considered part of the "junk" DNA we have, its broken and corrupted and inert - doesn't do anything. SARS-COV-2 in all its forms is activating that DNA which isn't making new viruses (because its ancient and broken) but causing health issues.
No they are telling us something very significant, a new virus is waking up the old broken pieces of ancient viruses and causing health issues. It's not just about immunity, you don't want SARS-COV-2 in your body. I've recently gone through some health issues that landed me in the ER over Christmas, no one can tell me what's going on, except that I was infected with "a virus" and my vagus nerve is acting up. I caught delta and omicron, and even though with Delta I was asymptomatic and Omicron gave me the sniffs for a couple days, I am now wondering if this didn't agitate a previous infection that I had.
That's an interesting take on it
... as I understood it, our immunity was / is built on an integration of viruses into our DNA, and that as time has gone by, these now integrated HERVs have been deactivated, meaning we have lost the immunity they originally created, or have I missed the boat?
That's an interesting take on it
You've missed the boat read my reply above.
@Feliks Karp ... I just made a call to to Prof. Madhi, the current head of virology at Wits, to ask for his take on this, (and in language I can understand) ... It seems we are both correct; As time goes by our HERV's "integrated viruses" deactivate, as there is only so much space available, on a pretty much a "similar to", first in first out basis however SARS, (Covid in this context), damages / deactivates the other side of the chain, and can in essence undo previous immunity(ies), giving rise to what you speak of.
Now I'm not an antivaxxer but doesn't the covid "vaccine" (gene therapy) then cause further issues down the road? How do we know for certain that in 5 years from now we don't have an outbreak of cancer for example due to slow breakdown of the chain as you mentioned? I'm just curious.
I'll be honest I don't know what you're talking about. Initially you said HERVS gets deactivated by SARS-COV-2 and that some how does something to immunity. Which is why I said you missed the boat, because the large heading of the article literally talks about activation of HERVS.
"It is now of the utmost importance to find out how SARS-CoV-2 activates HERVs" as quoted from the article, there's nothing about immunity, or immunity evasion, and HERVS are not deactivated from an immune response or lack of space, they literally just get degraded over 1000's of years untill they became junk, they aren't full viruses, just proteins and genes left over.
They aren't "waking up" because your immune system is broken, the spike protein stimulating of them to preform functions albeit faulty ones. If you read the WHOLE article, there is a similar study on how a herpes virus activates a protein with in turn causes MS.
Felix, please feel free to contact me and I'll gladly facilitate a meeting with people far more knowledgeable than you or I to explain the function(s) of HERVS, and viruses for that matter, and how when elements of the chain are damaged, the very thing they were designed to stop is triggered. I am not arguing that viruses are simple proteins with incomplete DNA, (which is why they require a host), or other points you raise above ... YOU posted a Scientific article without explanation, that intrigued me enough to fill in the detail ... in plain english.
I wish I could answer you, however I'm a tad out of my depth here and like you, have to trust that the experts, the Virulogists, know what they are doing, and have our best interests at heart, particularly so in that the subject overlaps genealogy.
The vaccine stays in your system for 2 to 3 days at the most. We know with certainty that it is not prevalent in 5 years time.
I feel like you aren't comprehending what I'm typing or you're just a phenomenal troll. Either way, I'm giving up, this is far more frustration than it's worth.
I believe the feeling is mutual ... that you aren't understanding what I'm saying, however I accepted that, and offered you an olive branch to call me, to which I'd gladly facilitate a meeting with people who are both knowledgeable in and on the subject, and, who are clearly better than you or I at explaining it.
A great podcast about the saga between Niel Young, Joe (pee-drinker) Rogan and Spotify. It's adressing the issue of free-speach in this regard. Nothing about Covid. But it's worth the 18 minute listen.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7u...i=KyamKN3RQqGgYjR_kGrQtA&utm_source=copy-link
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7u...i=KyamKN3RQqGgYjR_kGrQtA&utm_source=copy-link
Shoooweeeee ... Eusebius has certainly set the stage for an interesting debate ... keep us in the loop on his follow up(s)
Thanks @Adephi
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