Omicron variant

Daniel Wood9 said:But look, they've got high rates of HIV and TB, plus vaccination numbers are pretty low. Their population is definitely younger than what you see in most European countries, though.

South African Alice was actually on CNN tonight, and while she did mention how things are being blown out of proportion to stir up panic, she was also very clear about the need to keep the public informed and push for vaccinations and booster shots—both in South Africa and the UK.

The UK has a much older demographic, but their vaccination rates are way higher than in South Africa. People, especially the younger crowd, are dropping like flies from Omicron, but so far, it doesn't look like mortality rates have actually spiked significantly.

Where exactly is this younger generation "dropping like flies" from Omicron? And what on earth does "dropping like flies" even mean in this context? Are we talking about those news reports out of China at the start of everything where people were just collapsing in the streets or what?...

I had no clue the first person to die from omicron was in the UK

Adam Harris2 said:I had no clue the first person to die from omicron was in the UK

So, I sat through the video, and apparently, he died "with Omicron."
They didn't bother disclosing his age, or any comorbidities, or anything useful at all... just left us hanging...

Just two weeks ago, the supposed experts were promising us that we would finally see what this Omicron variant actually entails...
Yet here I am, staring at the statistics where Omicron seemingly accounts for 99.9% of cases—which isn't even shocking, really—and we're seeing maybe one or two deaths a day...

https://www.worldometers.info/corona...ntry/botswana/

And what’s the average window—for the general population, anyway—between testing positive and death? It's about 15 to 20 days. So, we should probably start seeing the actual impact over in the UK somewhere toward the end of next week.

Apparently, they're saying Omicron has been around since March and popped up entirely on its own, separate from the other variants:
https://www.cnn.com/health/science

Charles Ramos7 said:Apparently, they're saying Omicron has been around since March and popped up entirely on its own, separate from the other variants:
https://www.cnn.com/health/science

Borut Štrukelj: This graph tracks the molecular development of the omicron variant. It turns out omicron developed independently from the other versions and was actually present as early as March this year.

https://twitter.com/vladaRS/status/1...k-vzivo-568390

They’re misreading the chart—those red dots represent Omicron, which has about 20 S1 mutations.

It shares a common ancestor with the Alpha strain from March 2020.

Each dot marks when a new strain was identified, and the lines act like a family tree connecting them back to their predecessors.

Omicron evolved from an Alpha strain that was first spotted back in March of last year.

Since there are 20 mutations in the spike protein, it's pretty clear it's been mutating for quite a while! It’s highly likely there were several other distinct strains floating around between Alpha and Omicron that just went undetected before Omicron finally took center stage.

You’re missing the point—and honestly, so are you. Monsanto actually emerged back in the fall of 2020, over in the United Kingdom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SARS-C...iant#Detection

The original Wuhan virus wasn't the Monsanto strain...

Gerald Chavez7 said:You’re missing the point—and honestly, so are you. Monsanto actually emerged back in the fall of 2020, over in the United Kingdom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SARS-C...iant#Detection

The original Wuhan virus wasn't the Monsanto strain...

I thought I read somewhere that Alpha was the ancestor, so I'm just reciting what I remember. I probably mixed things up, since what you're saying totally lines up with the diagram.

Maybe the article meant that Alpha and Omicron share a common ancestor, but my memory definitely failed me there... 🙂

It looks like Omicron has quite a few "old" ancestors under its belt—it’s actually pretty similar to the original Wuhan strain, which people in the US often refer to as the wild-type.

Gerald Chavez7 said:It looks like Omicron has quite a few "old" ancestors under its belt—it’s actually pretty similar to the original Wuhan strain, which people in the US often refer to as the wild-type.

COVID-19 variants

https://virological.org/t/omicron-is...any-months/775

That makes sense! I was under the impression that the most recent ancestor was something like an Alphabet strain...

Beroš: ‘We’ve identified four cases of Omicron in San Francisco‘; head of San Francisco's local health department: ‘This is our first signal’

We’re looking at nearly a million new omicron cases every single day in the USA:

Noah Anderson66 said:Where exactly is this younger generation "dropping like flies" from Omicron? And what on earth does "dropping like flies" even mean in this context? Are we talking about those news reports out of China at the start of everything where people were just collapsing in the streets or what?...

When people say kids are "dropping like flies" in this context, they just mean the infection is ripping through schools and colleges at lightning speed. I'm not claiming they're all getting hit with brutal symptoms or dying off—it's just that this Omicron strain spreads insanely fast. Especially over in England.

To put an old saying in different terms:
It’s just us and Omicron against a billion others...

Omicron is spreading incredibly fast—everyone’s probably going to catch it at some point. Honestly, if you've been vaccinated or already had it, you should be fine (it'll likely be a milder version anyway), while those who haven't had either will just deal with it exactly like everything else we've seen so far.

Gerald Chavez7 said:Omicron is spreading incredibly fast—everyone’s probably going to catch it at some point. Honestly, if you've been vaccinated or already had it, you should be fine (it'll likely be a milder version anyway), while those who haven't had either will just deal with it exactly like everything else we've seen so far.

Sure. And right now, nobody's dying from this thing either, regardless of whether they're vaccinated or not.🤦

Gerald Chavez7 said:Omicron is spreading incredibly fast—everyone’s probably going to catch it at some point. Honestly, if you've been vaccinated or already had it, you should be fine (it'll likely be a milder version anyway), while those who haven't had either will just deal with it exactly like everything else we've seen so far.

Looking at the bigger picture over a longer timeline, the reality remains unchanged: absolutely everyone is going to be exposed, whether through infection or vaccination.
The real devil is in the details—specifically, the timing and the speed of this rollout.

It looks like we’ll hit herd immunity or transition to an endemic state by this summer.
What the actual cost of this massive, rapid wave of exposure will be? I don't think anyone truly knows yet (well, except for Bakić and Lauc, since they apparently have all the answers).

frozenraven22 said:Looking at the bigger picture over a longer timeline, the reality remains unchanged: absolutely everyone is going to be exposed, whether through infection or vaccination.
The real devil is in the details—specifically, the timing and the speed of this rollout.

It looks like we’ll hit herd immunity or transition to an endemic state by this summer.
What the actual cost of this massive, rapid wave of exposure will be? I don't think anyone truly knows yet (well, except for Bakić and Lauc, since they apparently have all the answers).

Yeah, I think anyone hoping to dodge the virus entirely can kiss that idea goodbye... If you ask me, 🙏we won't just be bumping up against it; we'll be living with it.

Some projections for Western countries are looking at daily infection rates hitting up to 1% of the population... With a peak like that, everything will likely wrap up by May...

frozenraven22 said:Looking at the bigger picture over a longer timeline, the reality remains unchanged: absolutely everyone is going to be exposed, whether through infection or vaccination.
The real devil is in the details—specifically, the timing and the speed of this rollout.

It looks like we’ll hit herd immunity or transition to an endemic state by this summer.
What the actual cost of this massive, rapid wave of exposure will be? I don't think anyone truly knows yet (well, except for Bakić and Lauc, since they apparently have all the answers).

Yeah, honestly? Everyone can stop worrying about "avoiding" the virus... I mean, :Lauc: I think we aren't just going to be close to it, we're going to be living with it. 🧐

Some projections for Western countries are looking at up to 1% of the population being infected daily... With a peak like that, we'll be through the worst of it by May...

Gerald Chavez7 said:Yeah, I think anyone hoping to dodge the virus entirely can kiss that idea goodbye... If you ask me, 🙏we won't just be bumping up against it; we'll be living with it.

Some projections for Western countries are looking at daily infection rates hitting up to 1% of the population... With a peak like that, everything will likely wrap up by May...

Those who survive will have plenty to talk about. 😁

That potential 1% daily infection rate scares the hell out of me too. 🙄

God willing, Omicron turns out to be nothing more than a common cold.🎉