What it is about the Omicron variant that has virologists gobsmacked? And when might we know more about it? MrJDWalsh spoke with virologist Jeremy Kamil (macroliter) about how concerned we should be right now
Members of the Department of Microbiology research team at the University of Hong Kong pose with a projector image showing immunofluorescence staining of Omicron. Photo: Kin Cheung/AP/Shutterstock When virologist Jeremy Kamil got a look at the Omicron sequence posted to GISAID — an open-source website and global nonprofit that helps scientists share genome sequencing — shortly after the new variant was identified last week, it shocked him.
I do think there are reasons to be optimistic. Some people are saying, “Hey, we’re back at square one.” That’s not really true. We have mRNA-vaccine platforms. We know that masking works. If you go back to March 2020, there was so much unknown. We were locking down playgrounds. We’re not back there. I think it’s just a sobering moment in which we have to remind ourselves that we’ve never moved through a pandemic of a coronavirus before. There’s nothing certain in human history about this.
I saw someone tweeted that. I even quote-tweeted it and said something snarky like, “Huge, if true,” but then I took it down because people didn’t realize I wasn’t being serious. It’s way too early to know. These cases, when they emerged in South Africa, they may have been people who had already survived a Beta infection, for instance. Or they may be younger. You don’t know from such small numbers. It would be great if it happens to be true that symptoms are mild.
As we continue to make our way through a coronavirus pandemic, what kind of progress has been made, in terms of systems and processes, to identify variants?