Omicron variant: Move over, Delta
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OSLO, Dec 3 (Reuters) - At least 13 people in Oslo have been infected with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus following a corporate Christmas party described as a "super spreader event", and their numbers could rise to over 60 cases, authorities said on Friday.
The outbreak took place at a Christmas party on Nov. 26 organised by renewable energy company Scatec , which has operations in South Africa where the variant was first detected.
"This party has been a super spreader event," Preben Aavitsland, a senior physician at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, told Reuters by email.
"Our working hypothesis is that at least half of the 120 participants were infected with the Omicron variant during the party. This makes this, for now, the largest Omicron outbreak outside South Africa."
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State infections by variant: https://covariants.org/per-country
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https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/12/omicron-covid-reinfection-vaccine-protection.html
Omicron continues to spread across the United States, and around the world, as scientists try to pin down how fast it spreads and how much of a threat it poses compared to other strains of the virus . As of Saturday morning, omicron cases had been reported in 12 U.S. states, pretty much all of which were among people who had traveled to South Africa recently. None of the cases so far in the U.S. have resulted in serious illness; and the World Health Organization has said that no omicron cases, which have been detected in at least 38 countries, have resulted in death.
WHO officials note that it will take weeks to know how infectious omicron really is and how effective the current crop of vaccines is against the new variant. Experts emphasize that vaccines will provide some protection against the variant, especially against the worse outcomes of infection, like hospitalization and death. “There’s no reason to suppose that they won’t,” Michael Ryan, head of emergencies at the WHO said. That said, preliminary data appears to suggest omicron is able to cause reinfection at a higher rate compared to previous variants, which is of particular concern to countries where vaccination rates are low.
That natural immunity to the virus might not hold up as well against omicron hints that the vaccines might not provide as much protection against the new variant as they have against previous strains. “It’s scary that there are so many reinfections happening, which means that vaccine-induced immunity may also be impacted in similar way,” Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale, tells the New York Times. The location of the new variant’s many mutations also suggests it is able to evade at some of the immunity built up by vaccines. But it’s not all worrying news: early data suggests “omicron won’t be impervious to the body’s second line of defense, T-cells,” notes Bloomberg.
Scientists in South Africa report that Omicron appears to be spreading twice as fast as Delta there. Part of the reason why omicron may be more transmissible is because it appears to have picked up genetic material from a virus that causes the common cold in humans. That is the conclusion of another pre-print study in which researchers “found a snippet of genetic code that is also present in a virus that can bring about a cold,” reports the Washington Post. That could mean the variant spreads more easily but only causes mild or asymptomatic illness.
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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@george-k said in Omicron variant: Move over, Delta:
That is the conclusion of another pre-print study in which researchers “found a snippet of genetic code that is also present in a virus that can bring about a cold,” reports the Washington Post. That could mean the variant spreads more easily but only causes mild or asymptomatic illness.
How does that work out? That doesn’t even make logical sense.
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@lufins-dad said in Omicron variant: Move over, Delta:
@george-k said in Omicron variant: Move over, Delta:
That is the conclusion of another pre-print study in which researchers “found a snippet of genetic code that is also present in a virus that can bring about a cold,” reports the Washington Post. That could mean the variant spreads more easily but only causes mild or asymptomatic illness.
How does that work out? That doesn’t even make logical sense.
Why not? There’s not much selective pressure on the virus to become less deadly since deaths occur so long after contagion but there’s no reason it can’t happen.
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@renauda said in Omicron variant: Move over, Delta:
No one ever said a virus behaved or virused logically.
I mean the conclusion. It’s very possible that the virus causes general milder symptoms, and even probable over time that newer versions will cause milder symptoms. It’s what happened with the flu and other viruses in the past. What is not logical is concluding that it is milder because it bonded with a cold virus…
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@jon-nyc said in Omicron variant: Move over, Delta:
@lufins-dad said in Omicron variant: Move over, Delta:
@george-k said in Omicron variant: Move over, Delta:
That is the conclusion of another pre-print study in which researchers “found a snippet of genetic code that is also present in a virus that can bring about a cold,” reports the Washington Post. That could mean the variant spreads more easily but only causes mild or asymptomatic illness.
How does that work out? That doesn’t even make logical sense.
Why not? There’s not much selective pressure on the virus to become less deadly since deaths occur so long after contagion but there’s no reason it can’t happen.
It’s reasonable to assume the virus will become less deadly over time. Prognosticating Omicron this early? Not logical. And if it is less deadly, stating it’s because it bonded with a cold virus? That’s like the Underwear Gnome Equation.
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I have absolutely no problem getting a virus, however I'm afraid that I have no real idea how they work.
In that way, they're a lot like smartphones, which also seem to mutate into something even more awful on a depressingly regular basis.
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"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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People are idiots. The larger the group, the bigger the idiocy.
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@lufins-dad said in Omicron variant: Move over, Delta:
People are idiots. The larger the group, the bigger the idiocy.
I see we read the same literature.
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@lufins-dad said in Omicron variant: Move over, Delta:
People are idiots. The larger the group, the bigger the idiocy.
So much for populism, eh? Right or left populism it doesn’t matter. It always comes back to the idiocy of the common rabble.
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@george-k said in Omicron variant: Move over, Delta:
I really can't imagine a group of more insufferable people than these 5....
Indeed. They remind me of the opinions/noise you'd here from a group of women outside a grocery store or at a happy hour who decide to get into a current events discussion. Personally, I only watch because of that sweet eye candy, Ms Behar.
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"Do any of you men have any eggs or the possibility of carrying a fetus? How dare you talk about what a fetus wants! You have no idea."
First, neither do you. Second, the fetus is the result of two ingredients, one comes from the man. #sexytime
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"Do any of you men have any eggs or the possibility of carrying a fetus? How dare you talk about what a fetus wants! You have no idea."
Bigot, the phrase is non-birthing person. Time for someone to get canceled…
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"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
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