Just saying (part 79 – the Hantavirus edition)

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Very soon after this post the other day:

I was accused by a couple of individuals on social media of being “dramatic”, and of “scaremongering”.
They took exception to my view that – coming from Argentina – this particular strain of Hantavirus (at that point only isolated in one patient, and not the other two seriously ill patients or the three individuals who died, including the one that collapsed in OR Tambo airport) could well have been passed from human to human.

But then a day later, the WHO agreed with me:

The World Health Organization says there may have been rare human-to-human transmission of hantavirus on the Dutch cruise ship where three passengers have died.

The virus is usually spread from rodents, but the WHO said in this instance it could have spread among “really close contacts” aboard the MV Hondius vessel. 

And today, our local NICD confirmed that:

And sure, that still doesn’t mean that we’re in any huge amount of danger from Hantavirus, but equally, it doesn’t mean that we’re in the clear, either.

Thankfully, there finally seems to have been some hard work done in contact tracing those on board the flight with the Dutch woman – which was almost certainly 4Z132 on April 25th:

Now we just need to know what she did (aside from collapsing) between this flight landing at 20:31 and her not getting onto KL592, which departed at 23:58 that evening.

That’s two confirmed cases so far, then. And it would be foolish not to assume that her husband also died from the virus. Given this new development of potential human to human transmission, they’re also going to medivac another close contact of his off the ship today.

Important work again by the NICD is confirming the strain of Hantavirus, and good that we’re now able to look at the outbreak and any potential consequences with fresh information. But I’m still sticking to the way that I ended that last post on this subject:

It’s going to be interesting couple of weeks ahead.

The same voting rights as you

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Ah, democracy!

As Winston Churchill once noted:

Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried.

But it isn’t perfect, as… er… Winston Churchill once noted:

The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.

Both statements can be true. And both statements probably are.

The issue of allowing every vote to count the same is – of course – both the biggest strength and the biggest weakness of the democratic system. Because everyone should be equal, but then you end up having the same voting rights as… well… as this person:

Honestly, who inconsistently capitalises the word “Vinegar”?

OK. OK.
Obviously, that’s not the real problem here. The problem is ethanoic acid fumes.

No, no, no. The problem is not that either. The problem is that this person’s vote is going to effectively nullify your vote in any upcoming election. Because it’s unlikely that you’ll be intelligent enough to read this blog, but stupid enough to vote for the same party that they do.

And the worst bit of it? They are not alone. Remember this?

More fuel load incoming. Heavy metals via Geoengineering. Today are heat warnings danger to humans and environment….hmmmm I wonder why…….metals create a magnifying glass effect burning everything with the sun rays and absorbing all the moisture.

All for “climate change” and the “sustainable goals”. The WEF/UN/BILL GATES ERADICATION OF ALL LIFE ON THIS EARTH. DOWN TO ZERO EQUALS ZERO LIFE ON EARTH. That will eventually also include all the politicians who execute the devils orders.

And this?

Weather manipulation and gas like artificial fog is what is making people sick and this combined with 5G is killing all trees, insects and nature, contaminates all water sources.

And this?

Many people have been having dreams lately but as always umlungu [white people] will say “it’s climate change” and the sheep will believe umlungu over us.

And all of these people?

All those evil pilots spraying us and never ever ever telling anyone about the poison. And the airport people that load the planes. Those dudes are evil.

And suddenly, your vote is worth absolutely nothing. Worse than nothing, if such a thing was possible in an election process.

Yes, Churchill was absolutely right. The only issue being that no-one in their right mind would waste five minutes of their precious time on any of these Vinegar-inhaling moonbats.

It’s happening again!

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Remember this?

That cold front actually dropped 54mm on us in just under 24 hours.

And so yes, that is how it’s going to work, and so I wasn’t wrong in my assessment.

Check out this weekend:

We get somewhere around 1400mm of rainfall a year in this bit of Cape Town. So to get another 100mm (give or take) over 3 days this weekend on top of the 200mm from the last two weeks would really be quite something.

And the good news is that the rainfall over the dams is above the long term average for this time of year for just the second time this decade.

At least we’re not on the Garden Route this week.

Don’t panic (but…)

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It reads like the script of some disaster movie. A luxury cruise ship, full of 91 posh people (and 61 crew) from 23 countries, taking in some of the most amazing sights (and sites) of the Southern Hemisphere.

And then a deadly viral outbreak onboard. “Ebola-lite”, as one news outlet inaccurately described it.
One guy dies, his wife tries to escape through the biggest airport in Africa, but collapses as she tries to fly home. She dies.
There’s then a third death on board.
And a British man is in ICU in Johannesburg (quite a long way from where the ship actually docked, which wasn’t actually in SA at all).

On board, stuck just off the coast of Cape Verde, the rest of the passengers and crew are forced to isolate as they wait out the incubation time of the virus, which has a mortality rate of 30-60%. More people are ill, but the local hospitals don’t have the facilities to treat them, and the local Health Minister isn’t allowing anyone from the ship near the islands.

Understandable.

There’s a travel blogger on board, and it’s said that there’s no such thing as bad publicity, perhaps being part of an as yet uncontrolled outbreak of severe, often fatal respiratory disease on a small, densely-packed ship might reasonably be seen as an exception to that rule.

So… anything to worry about in SA?

Nah. Surely not for us. The boat is in Cape Verde: way, way up the West Coast from here.

In a statement on Monday, the Health Department of South Africa said:

In our view, there is no need for the public to panic because only two patients from the cruise ship have been within our borders.

And of course the guy in the ICU in Joburg was brought there under very controlled conditions.

It’s just the woman that collapsed at the airport, then. The woman whose husband probably died of Hantavirus: the woman who collapsed at OR Tambo and who then died (probably of Hantavirus) in hospital soon afterwards.

Thankfully, no issues here, because it’s just a bit of contact tracing, which will obviously have been done quickly and efficiently and… I’m sorry? What?

The only challenge is that we need anyone who came in contact with the two patients to come forward for screening and testing to check if they are not infected yet.

Right.

It’s been a week, guys. This really isn’t great news at a major international airport and with a virus with an incubation period of 2-3 (but sometimes up to 8) weeks.

Mind you. When it comes to burying one’s head in the sand…

Three deaths from severe respiratory illness, one patient in ICU with severe respiratory symptoms – and who has tested positive from Hantavirus – and two crew members exhibiting severe respiratory symptoms, and the cruise company is still saying that the cases might not be linked:

Hantavirus has not currently been confirmed in the two persons still on board who require medical care. Nor has it been established that the virus is connected to the three deaths associated with this voyage. The exact cause and any possible connection are being investigated.

I’ve seen this approach before somewhere…

Ah yes:

Obviously, there’s not a microbiologist or an epidemiologist anywhere in the world that thinks that these cases might – just possibly – be connected. Obviously.

All perfectly normal. Obviously.

I mean, you hope that this is all done now. But there’s no reason why it should be. We’re still within one month of the ship’s departure from Argentina – a country which…

…reports approximately 100 cases of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome annually, with notable risks of rare human-to-human transmission, distinct from other global hantaviruses.

It’s going to be interesting couple of weeks ahead.

Horses that look better in the Parade Ring than they perform on the track

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Example No.1:

We spent the morning walking along Struisbaai beach before heading off at lunchtime back to Cape Town (Azerbaijani radio all the way home) (IYKYK) to be de-sanded and ready to get to Hollywoodbets Kenilworth to see this guy’s race.

Let’s just say that we worked a lot harder than he did. Another disappointing performance, despite looking happy and healthy in the parade ring.

Still, got a little bit of money back in the Lucky Last, so it wasn’t all bad.

And it was a beautiful day, but the weather has closed in already and we won’t be seeing the sun again until at least Thursday.