SARS-CoV-2 Variants - Coronavirus COVID-19 **NO DISCUSSION**

[weepingangel]

Why scientists think our immune systems will be primed to fight the omicron variant

 

[CrimeAway]

Interview with Moderna chairman:

 

[margarita25]

Dec. 15, 2021
Dr. Mike & Dr. Maria, Q&A

 

[Seattle1]

Omicron is causing over 90% of new COVID-19 cases in New York, Florida, Texas, Washington, and more | Daily Mail Online

12/21/21

The Omicron variant is now causing about three in four new COVID-19 cases nationwide, and 90% of cases in at least five states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced on Monday.

In New York and New Jersey, the Midwest, the Southeast, the Gulf Coast, and the Northwest, the Omicron variant now account for more than 90 percent of new cases.

While other regions currently have lower Omicron prevalence, the variant is spreading fast enough that officials expect it will be dominant throughout the country within weeks.

 

[weepingangel]

Preferential expansion of cross-reactive pre-existing switched memory B cells that recognize the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant Spike protein

 

[weepingangel]

New potential COVID-19 variant IHU discovered in France, reports say

 

[weepingangel]

‘Killer’ immune cells still recognize Omicron variant

 

[margarita25]

"omicron BA.2”

A second version of omicron is spreading. Here's why scientists are on alert

Just as the omicron surge starts to recede in parts of the U.S., scientists have their eye on another coronavirus variant spreading rapidly in parts of Asia and Europe. It's officially called "omicron BA.2," and this week scientists detected cases of it in several U.S. states, including California, Texas and Washington.

Although BA.2 is currently rare in the U.S., scientists expect it to spread in the country over the next month. There's growing evidence that it's just as contagious as — or possibly a bit more contagious than — the first omicron variant, called "omicron BA.1."

"It could be that BA.2 does have some small advantage," says Emma Hodcroft, an epidemiologist at the University of Bern who has been tracking variants all around the world throughout the pandemic via the Nextstrain project. "BA.2 might well be, like, 1% to 3% more transmissible, or something like that."

 

[margarita25]

Omicron variant: What we know so far about this COVID-19 strain | UC Davis Health
Updated Jan. 28, 2022

“What is the omicron variant BA.2? How is it different than the original omicron variant?

The new omicron variant BA.2 appears to be about 50% more transmissible than the original omicron strain BA.1. Preliminary data suggests omicron BA.1 causes the same severity of disease and symptoms, but it's affecting younger people more.

We don't know how common reinfection is, but there are reports that several people have been infected with omicron BA.1, and within a month infected with omicron BA.2. It appears that this version of omicron is either so much more highly infectious that it can overcome vaccine or previous infection immunity, or it can evade immunity due to the mutations that it has.”

 

[margarita25]

February 16, 2022
Q & A with Dr. Mike & Dr. Maria

 

[margarita25]

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.02.14.480335v1.full.pdf

 

[weepingangel]

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/covid-coronavirus-omicron-variant-mutation-infectious
How omicron’s mutations make it the most infectious coronavirus variant yet
A unique anatomy may have fueled omicron’s dominance

 

[margarita25]

What happens when Covid-19 variants combine?

 

[weepingangel]

Latest version of omicron accounts for most new infections across the U.S., testing shows

 

[weepingangel]

Omicron subvariant BA.2: Health officials call it 'variant of concern'

 

[margarita25]

WHO
Statement on Omicron sublineage BA.2
Feb. 22, 2022

 

[margarita25]

 

[weepingangel]

State of Affairs: May 2
Some recent varient info

 

[anneg]

State of Affairs: May 2
Some recent varient info

Nice summary of the current situation.

 

[anneg]

Posted this on the main thread.

An article by Dr. Eric Topol with some important (if unpleasant to contemplate) points and good charts/graphics, such as this one showing deaths by vaccination status over the period Sept '21 thru Jan '22:

View attachment 344156

He writes:
To recap, we have a highly unfavorable picture of: (1) accelerated evolution of the virus; (2) increased immune escape of new variants; (2) progressively higher transmissibility and infectiousness; (4) substantially less protection from transmission by vaccines and boosters; (5) some reduction on vaccine/booster protection against hospitalization and death; (6) high vulnerability from infection-acquired immunity only; and (7) likelihood of more noxious new variants in the months ahead.