Covid: New heavily mutated variant B.1.1.529 in South Africa raises concern

[Phil C. McNasty]

Omicron might turn out to be a blessing. We'll know in 2 weeks

Omicron variant 'might speed up end of pandemic', experts say

Professor Karl Lauterbach, a clinical epidemiologist, said early reports from South Africa that Omicron causes mild illness could make it a Christmas gift and may even speed up the end of the pandemic.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[NotADcotor]

They also skipped over Nu. (Lots of early reports on Omicron call it Nu because that is what was next.)
I can only assume they skipped Nu because they didn't want a "WHO's on First?" series of joke puns about the "New-Nu virus".

Or maybe it sounds a lot like Ni and they didn't want to have the Knights Who Say Ni haul them into court over copyright.
Also if people hear it as Ni it would of course cause great pain which unless you are trying to find some shrubbery is needless.

 

[NotADcotor]

At least it's Omicron and not Unicron.

Unicron - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I have nerdly friends.

 

[GameBoy27]

At this point I don't think there's any reason to freak out if you're double-vaxxed. I have a feeling current vaccines will offer enough protection to keep people out of hospital. Time will tell though.

 

[ShockNAwww]

They also skipped over Nu. (Lots of early reports on Omicron call it Nu because that is what was next.)
I can only assume they skipped Nu because they didn't want a "WHO's on First?" series of joke puns about the "New-Nu virus".
"Xi" probably because of the name confusion with the politician.

WHO skipped two Greek alphabet letters in naming coronavirus variant

CLAIM: The World Health Organization skipped two letters of the Greek alphabet, nu and xi, when naming omicron, a newly identified variant of the coronavirus. AP’S ASSESSMENT: True.

apnews.com

In a statement provided to the AP, the WHO said it skipped nu for clarity and xi to avoid causing offense generally.

“‘Nu’ is too easily confounded with ‘new,’ and ‘Xi’ was not used because it is a common last name,” the WHO said, adding that the agency’s “best practices for naming disease suggest avoiding ‘causing offence to any cultural, social, national, regional, professional or ethnic groups.’”

===

I feel like the WHO couldn’t really win on variant names.

Obviously, the soft heads and crazies are gonna do their thing no matter which conventions you use.

But as far as functional adults go. What are other systems of sequence that would meet all the criteria?

Roughly:
1) A system that replaces the use of the geographic location of origin for an emerging variant and substitutes for number/letter designation (B.1.1.529) which is a little wordy.

2) A system that indicates its own location in a commonly understood sequence, like Alpha to Omega with 22 predictable letters/symbols/words in order between.

c) Doesn’t cause offence.

Presumably they considered NATO phonetic and rejected it. Which I could understand because of the politics of it all.

Maybe Latin numbers? It would be funny to hear them pronounced.

 

[NotADcotor]

They should use Klingon for variant names. It was good enough for Shakespeare.

 

[basketcase]

...
"Xi" probably because of the name confusion with the politician.

I'd guess a combination of not wanting to offend the leader of one of the world's largest economies and not wanting to deal with the anti-Asian racism the pandemic engendered by having the commonality in names.

 

[Phil C. McNasty]

Early indications are that fully vaccinated people are protected against Omicron

COVID: First signs that vaccine protects against Omicron – health minister

So far, Israel has registered four cases infected with the new variant, while general morbidity remains low.

www.jpost.com

 

[GameBoy27]

Early indications are that fully vaccinated people are protected against Omicron

COVID: First signs that vaccine protects against Omicron – health minister

So far, Israel has registered four cases infected with the new variant, while general morbidity remains low.

www.jpost.com

And then this... Mind you, I think there needs to be a lot more study before we get a clear picture.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-59426353

 

[basketcase]

Early indications are that fully vaccinated people are protected against Omicron

COVID: First signs that vaccine protects against Omicron – health minister

So far, Israel has registered four cases infected with the new variant, while general morbidity remains low.

www.jpost.com

But we don't have 10 years of data yet so we should ignore it ... or that has been your stance on the vaccines in general.

 

[Phil C. McNasty]

But we don't have 10 years of data yet so we should ignore it ... or that has been your stance on the vaccines in general

Already answered here: https://terb.cc/xenforo/threads/aus...d-to-monitor-side-effects.764841/post-7303053

 

[jalimon]

And then this... Mind you, I think there needs to be a lot more study before we get a clear picture.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-59426353

I prefer the opinion of the scientists over the CEO of a pharma.

 

[amazing age]

Oh thank god! A new variant. For a moment I feared they had run out.

 

[jalimon]

Omicron might turn out to be a blessing. We'll know in 2 weeks

Omicron variant 'might speed up end of pandemic', experts say

Professor Karl Lauterbach, a clinical epidemiologist, said early reports from South Africa that Omicron causes mild illness could make it a Christmas gift and may even speed up the end of the pandemic.

www.dailymail.co.uk

That would be good news indeed. It's one of the pattern of viruses to mutate weaker. Similar to the Flu. Hopefully things will go that way.

 

[jalimon]

It's funny how people call it the South-African variant.

Guys it was discovered in South-Africa by a very competent lab but this variant could have easily come from another country.

 

[kherg007]

Oh thank god! A new variant. For a moment I feared they had run out.

Have no fears! As long as the virus is allowed to replicate in the unvaccinated, more will come.

 

[GameBoy27]

I prefer the opinion of the scientists over the CEO of a pharma.

That's why I said "Mind you, I think there needs to be a lot more study before we get a clear picture."

Have no fears! As long as the virus is allowed to replicate in the unvaccinated, more will come.

And all the anti-vaxxers will get COVID at some point. Sure, many will have mild symptoms. Others on the other hand will get very sick, acquire a myriad of long-COVID type symptoms, some being really nasty. Then there will be the stories of those begging Doctors to save them or to give them the vaccine when it's too late.

I don't personally know anyone who's refused to get vaccinated and contracted COVID. Probably because the anti-vaxxers make up a very small percentage of the population. But I do know many who got COVID before vaccines were available and became really sick, some with lasting effects. Plus there's the half dozen friends of friends who died. They were all under 70 and not considered in poor health.

While I don't wish sickness on anti-vaxxers, they'll get zero sympathy if they get sick. I have no time for them whatsoever.

 

[basketcase]

...

I don't personally know anyone who's refused to get vaccinated and contracted COVID. Probably because the anti-vaxxers make up a very small percentage of the population....

And most of them aren't going to admit it in public.

 

[amazing age]

Jalimon: Viruses are always named according to where they are first isolated (Spanish flu, Asian flu, etc.) And a note to Gameboy. I know three people who were fully vaccinated but still caught Covid (all workers in a long-term care facility). In all three cases the illness was very mild. Which is the point of the vaccines: they attenuate the severity of the disease, which is really all we need them to do. Sorry Gameboy. I just re-read your post and I see I misunderstood. You are referring to un-vaxed. I'll leave what I posted in, however. It's an interesting bit of info.

 

[GameBoy27]

Jalimon: Viruses are always named according to where they are first isolated (Spanish flu, Asian flu, etc.) And a note to Gameboy. I know three people who were fully vaccinated but still caught Covid (all workers in a long-term care facility). In all three cases the illness was very mild. Which is the point of the vaccines: they attenuate the severity of the disease, which is really all we need them to do. Sorry Gameboy. I just re-read your post and I see I misunderstood. You are referring to un-vaxed. I'll leave what I posted in, however. It's an interesting bit of info.

A member of my family (in their 40s and in good health) who lives in another country got COVID a few months ago. They were double-vaxxed and became quite sick. They didn't have to go to the hospital but described it as the worse virus they've ever had. I can only imagine how sick they would've been if they weren't vaxxed.