4 big questions about the new omicron variant

[superadmin]

Scientists in Botswana and South Africa first detected the variant, which features significant mutations to the coronavirus’s telltale spike protein, a few weeks ago. The sheer number of mutations was reason enough to worry — “this variant is completely insane,” remarked one infectious disease researcher to another — and, over the holiday weekend, the World Health Organization officially named omicron a variant of concern.

That designation means the WHO believes there is good reason to think the omicron variant is more transmissible than the currently dominant delta variant, that it causes more severe disease, or that it can better evade public health measures, including vaccines — or all of the above.

But at this point, there is so much scientists don’t know about omicron. It takes time to collect samples of the variant and study them, to observe transmission patterns, and for enough data to come in to be confident about how the vaccines are handling omicron. It will be at least a couple of weeks before we start to get firm and specific answers to the big outstanding questions.

Only once science has answered those questions will the world know how serious a threat the omicron variant actually is. Is it a minor setback or a major obstacle to getting to a place where we can live with Covid-19? Researchers are racing to find out.

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