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tux1968

That's not very reassuring, why is the new strain causing any problems at all if it behaves exactly like the existing strain? And if they haven't actually done any trials or testing, then they haven't really looked for any evidence. If they haven't looked for any, it seems rather too convenient to use the lack of evidence as a reason for hope that the current crop of vaccines provides any protection at all.

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It behaves exactly the same, but faster (is the current working assumption based on limited research so far).

So the "problems" it is causing is just that EITHER more stringent restrictions of the same kind are required to contain it OR if uncontained healthcare will be overwhelmed more quickly.

So problems of degree not of kind.

> why is the new strain causing any problems at all if it behaves exactly like the existing strain?

If it's true that the new strain is 70% more transmissible then that means more people will get sick before we can reach immunity thanks to a vaccine, hospitals will be overwhelmed sooner and more people will die.

While that's true, the issue being addressed is if the current vaccines would help at all even if we could deploy them instantly. It honestly seems like an open question, although apparently people are hopeful it'll work out that way.

Ah ok - sorry I misinterpreted.

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