Why Omicron and not Nu?
Nu means naked in Portuguese (and Spanish I think?) Maybe they wanted to avoid all the lazy puns. A pretty significant part of the world speaks either of those two languages.
Also in French.
Classification of Omicron (B.1.1.529): SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern
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Re: Classification of Omicron (B.1.1.529): SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern
#52How was "Omicron" chosen as the name of this variant?
I like to think "Futurama". Soon Omicron Persei 8 will subjugate the humans!
Re: Classification of Omicron (B.1.1.529): SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern
#53How was "Omicron" chosen as the name of this variant?
They use the greek alphabet to avoid stigmatising or politicizing the origins the various variants. They also pick names that are easy to remember and pronounce as opposed to the more technical names (ie. B.1.1.529).
Re: Classification of Omicron (B.1.1.529): SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern
#54I don’t know what to make of the WHO statements anymore. There has been so much retractions, flip-flops, politically-driven actions, half-truths, etc... I don’t know how assign any meaning, good or bad, to what comes out of that organization.
This is a multinational organization, funded by member states, built around consensus that we're talking about here. It seems unreasonable to expect international organizations to be simultaneously accepted by multiple parties with divergent and conflicting interests... and somehow not be subject to politics.
It’s disturbing how poor the civics knowledge regarding multinational organisations remains in much of the world.
The relations between countries in general are dysfunctional, driven by politics and selfish interests, often corrupt, and dependent on power, why are we surprised when those same factors affect shared multinational organisations?
Re: Classification of Omicron (B.1.1.529): SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern
#55How was "Omicron" chosen as the name of this variant?
They use the greek alphabet to avoid stigmatising or politicizing the origins the various variants. They also pick names that are easy to remember and pronounce as opposed to the more technical names (ie. B.1.1.529).
These names are for public consumption. The reality is a world of tens of thousands variants that are constantly evolving. The B.1.1.529 is from a computer program that names clusters of variants via a clustering algorithm.
Re: Classification of Omicron (B.1.1.529): SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
The mainstream vaccine narrative has needed additional supporting evidence to state with confidence that vaccinations after previous infection should be a requirement… it’s only natural a new variant should occur with the exact fit needed.
You realise this is mostly the case in the US? In the EU - previous infection and recovery gives you a COVID Pass - some countries are doing a single shot after infection at most to count you as vaccinated (Spain I believe does this) which is consistent with the data we have It’s mostly the US that has an insane vacine policy.
> It’s mostly the US that has an insane vacine policy.
3) PROFIT !!
Re: Classification of Omicron (B.1.1.529): SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern
#57My current take (not a virologist, doctor):
At this point, if you are not immunocompromised and you have the first vaccination and a booster. You should be able to easily recover regardless of the mutation(s). The virus would need to completely diverge from SARS-CoV-2 in order to fully defeat the countermeasures of the current vaccinations.
Re: Classification of Omicron (B.1.1.529): SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is a multinational organization, funded by member states, built around consensus that we're talking about here. It seems unreasonable to expect international organizations to be simultaneously accepted by multiple parties with divergent and conflicting interests... and somehow not be subject to politics.
It’s disturbing how poor the civics knowledge regarding multinational organisations remains in much of the world. The relations between countries in general are dysfunctional, driven by politics and selfish interests, often corrupt, and dependent on power, why are we surprised when those same factors affect shared multinational organisations?
Even though there are good reasons for it to be the case, I do agree with the OP that it undermines the trust in them.
Politics should not override science IMO.
Re: Classification of Omicron (B.1.1.529): SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern
#59My current take (not a virologist, doctor): At this point, if you are not immunocompromised and you have the first vaccination and a booster. You should be able to easily recover regardless of the mutation(s). The virus would need to completely diverge from SARS-CoV-2 in order to fully defeat the countermeasures of the current vaccinations.
Strikes me as unnecessarily early to make such a claim.
Re: Classification of Omicron (B.1.1.529): SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern
#60I gotta say, COVID releases new features faster than a lot of teams do.