Oh, you better watch out. You better not cry. You better not pout, I’m telling you why. The Omicron Variant is coming to town!
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Yes, just in time for the 2021 holiday season, COVID has “gifted” the world with an unexpected surprise: the Omicron Variant, which prompted financial markets to tumble more than 500 points on Friday and sent multiple nations into a rapid state of emergency.
Officially known as B.1.1.529, the new coronavirus variant was first discovered in South Africa, but has since been detected in Hong Kong, Israel, Austria, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Belgium, and Australia. In fact, the World Health Organization has dubbed Omicron a “variant of concern,” launching dozens of nations into an all-too-familiar urgent response.
Within just the past few days, multiple countries across the globe instituted an immediate travel ban against South Africa and other countries where the variant has been identified. Financial markets around the world nose-dived. The Saudi index suffered its biggest single-day fall in nearly 2 years. Oil prices tumbled $10 a barrel.
Israel announced late Saturday that it would ban the entry of all foreigners and reintroduce counter-terrorism phone-tracking technology to contain the spread of the variant. The United States, Brazil, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and European Union nations announced travel bans and/or restrictions against southern Africa. US citizens visiting or working in South Africa were informed they will be stranded and unable to return home for at least the foreseeable future.
In the US, the Biden administration officially imposed a new travel ban which some experts expect will affect the once-rebounding US economy. New York and other US states declared a state of emergency. Infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci admitted that although the Omicron Variant has not yet been detected within US borders, the likelihood of it already being here is great.
So, why exactly has the Omicron Variant instigated so much global fear? It’s because this particular variant has more mutations than scientists have ever seen. It is also considered more contagious than previous variants. Or, in other words, medical experts fear that those who have already had COVID or have been vaccinated (with inoculations that were designed to protect against earlier mutations) may not be protected or able to avoid infection or severe illness.
“The new variant adds another reminder that there are more new variants out there that are potentially incubating,” said Dr. Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla, CA. “So if anything, the silver lining of Omicron is it’s a wake-up call for all those people thinking we’re at the end of this. No, we’re not — not by any stretch, unfortunately.”
Other experts agreed.
“It clearly has been around for weeks. It has been moving silently. It takes a while for these kinds of things to come to your attention,” said Dr. Robert Schooley, professor of infectious diseases at the UC San Diego School of Medicine.
“One of the things that makes it hard is that we may have seen it first in South Africa because they have a more sophisticated system of tracking variants,” Schooley continued, adding that although there is no evidence the variant arose there, it could have started anywhere with a connection to that nation. He also cautioned that despite travel restrictions being well intended, they are unlikely to prevent the variant from spreading.
“It [travel restrictions] will give us more time to understand its properties, to convince people who haven’t been vaccinated that they have a moment to jump on things, but it is not going to prevent it from becoming global,” Schooley concluded. “We live in a global world.”
During a Sunday interview on CBS’s “Face The Nation,” Dr. Fauci dispersed a severe dose of reality and declared that the new Omicron Variant is proof positive that COVID is permanently here to stay — and that the world will simply have to learn to live with it rather than expect it to one day go away.
“I mean, we’ve heard people say, understandably, they’re trying to look for a metric to give to the public that we’re going to have to start living with COVID,” Dr. Fauci said. “I believe that’s the case because I don’t think we’re going to eradicate it. We’ve only eradicated one infection of mankind, and that’s smallpox. I don’t think we’re even going to eliminate it [COVID],” he added.
So, prepare yourselves for the inevitable. Masks, regular testing, COVID checks at airports/shops/restaurants/entertainment venues, and vaccines every few months or (if we’re lucky) once per year are almost certain to remain a constant routine of our everyday lives.
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“When does the pandemic end? It doesn’t end. We just stop caring. Or we care a lot less. I think for most people, it just fades into the background of their lives.” – Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, John Hopkins University
“The new variant adds another reminder that there are more new variants out there that are potentially incubating,” said Dr. Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla, CA. “So if anything, the silver lining of Omicron is it’s a wake-up call for all those people thinking we’re at the end of this. No, we’re not — not by any stretch, unfortunately.” – DJ
From Dr. Topol’s mouth to Our ears.
“He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” – Matthew 11:15 King James Version