Most people agree that Omicron is significantly different to other covid variants. And has been around for 6mths, quietly figuring out what it is supposed to be. Which appears to be quite contagious, but not as deadly. An ideal configuration of a virus. Get to spread, as hosts stay alive.
As for Omicron’s origins the opinions seem to favour an HIV or cancer patient who had covid antibodies, creating a prime environment for covid to mutate into Omicron.
However there are others who say this is an animal cross-over, with the Boston Globe listing NYC rats.
And the third theory is we caused it through the use of the drug molnupiravir.
But whatever the causes, Omicron is said to be different enough that current vaccines are not effective. This big change in a virus, is quite normal in the world of flu.
Here in Ontario, some of the restrictions have regressed/become tighter. So the timetable to have all restrictions gone by 2022Q1 is probably not going to happen.
Back in my “playing soldiers” days, we did some rather hard walks, where at times, we used to say, “It’s too hard, and I don’t want to do it anymore” but then pick ourselves up and carry on. We could all adopt this mantra for the coming year.
Not as if we have a choice. Do we?
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https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamhaseltine/2021/12/02/omicron-origins/?sh=210302561bc1
https://www.ft.com/content/bbc9eae3-5a49-43e8-8c25-a755008189e0