I hope all have had a meaningful Thanksgiving, in whatever form it has taken. Of course viruses don’t take a holiday.
A new variant
In case you missed it, there is a new mutation (or variant) to hit the scenes. It has been called Omicron (or B.1.1.529).
It appears to have originated in South Africa in a community of low-vaccinated younger adults.
Little is known about it except that it has more mutations than previous variants. Almost all people who have been identified as under the age of 50. That will likely change, but that’s all the data so far.
What we don’t know
- We don’t know if it is more contagious or less contagious that other variants.
- We don’t know if it is more likely to cause death, eg. more virulent.
- We don’t know if it “escapes the immune system” or is not covered with the vaccines or newer medications.
We don’t know much at this point, but there is tons of reaction in the press and elsewhere based on very little information.
As can easily be seen from the press, in this day of regular international travel, it is quite easy for a local outbreak in South Africa to spread world-wide.
This reminds me of the H1N1 influenza outbreak in 2008 when it was detected in a traveler in Spain 2 days after it was identified in Mexico.
More information will be coming forth as this is watched world-wide. At present 99% of the information is speculative.
