Hi Tupp!
I'm no scientist but this is what I believe are the answers to your questions (which should all be double-checked....):
I'm still muddled about the viral load though - it means you have more of the virus to pass on to other people? YES; That's why more people will get this strain, because nearby carriers--including asymptomatic--have in their respiratory systems and thus are emitting more infectious microparticles. And masks do leak and are only 65% effective: https://www.ucdavis.edu/coronavirus/news/your-mask-cuts-own-risk-65-percent/. [Since you can't know who's got which once the new variant hits your area and asymptomatic infection's still possible, quarantine (lockdown) is the primary protection. The only addition so far to my routine is being more careful to also wear a mask outdoors (dangling from one ear but easy to whip back on when a walker comes too close.) But it doesn't make you yourself sicker than the other variant did? SEE Dr VALLANCE QUOTE BELOW. Is that right? YES. And is the other variant still circulating or has this one replaced it now? IT HAS NOT REPLACED THE ORIGINAL FORM OF COVID-19 AS THE ORIGINAL STRAIN IS STILL INFECTING PEOPLE.
I don't blame you for feeling prickly, Tupp. I think each new development feels threatening until we realize we really can cope. I do trust that by summer life will be a lot better again, even though we may all tote masks for shopping or crowds as new normal behavior. (Maybe next year's vaccine will be reformulated like the flu vaccine is from year to year, but even scientists don't know what they don't know yet. In time they will. Even a pandemic is not a brand-new event; this one's just extra nasty. Scientists have what's real to offer; selfish politicians -- oy.)
[from US News, reliable mainstream--if you don't trust Johnson just focus on what Vallance says] "There's no evidence that it causes more severe illness or higher mortality, but it does appear to be passed on significantly more easily," [Boris] Johnson told a news conference to announce tougher lockdown restrictions for millions of people.
"Although there's considerable uncertainty, it may be up to 70% more transmissible than the old variant, the original version of the disease. This is early data and it's subject to review.
"But it's the best that we have at the moment and we have to act on information as we have it, because this is now spreading very fast." [....]
Britain's Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance said COVID-19 vaccines appeared to be adequate in generating an immune response to the variant of the coronavirus.
"We think it (the variant) may be in other countries as well," Vallance told reporters. "It may have started here, we don't know for sure."
Vallance said in parts of England, including London, the south east and east of England, the new variant was becoming the dominant form.
"This virus has taken off," he said of the mutation. "It's moving fast and it's leading inevitably to a sharp increase in hospital admissions."
"There is no evidence it causes a more severe disease, causes more hospitalisation, causes more trouble than the other virus, it basically looks similar."Scientists do hedge their bets with ambiguous responses before they are absolutely, precisely certain of something; that's their training. But when they add words like "may" or "preliminary indications" or "looks like" I don't think they're being deceptive, just saying what they know and what they don't yet have rock-solid evidence for about a virus' or virus strain's behavior. I have no anxiety about scientific deception of the public. Political, sure--this country's super sick in that way. And politics has undercut scientists' attempts to inform and explain. That's affected the public's reaction in disastrous fashion. Hence, our numbers now are the worst in the world. THIS TOO SHALL PASS.
One way I cope is setting up semi-regular Zooms. I have a Zoom with a neighbor I'm close to, which we do at least twice a month. Then there's weekly Zoom therapy and even online church services, which I avoid in December but probably will return to in the new year. (I mostly lurk, using an icon instead of a photo as my image. I don't even get dressed, just have it running while I loll around. During the boring bits I open up a new window with a subscription and read something interesting.)
The other thing that helps me cope is to remind myself that I've gotten through 9 months of this without losing my mind or burning the house down, and even though it's felt very acute at times, I know I can cope with 4 more months. I look at what Britons endured during WWII and Americans during the Great Depression and figure--this is not unendurable, though it really sucks.
hugs
Hops
