The burning questions about omicron: What makes this newly identified variant so transmissible? And what does it mean for preventing spread?
A colorized electron micrograph image of a cell infected with with SARS-CoV-2 virus particles , isolated from a patient sample.
"This is a game-changing virus, especially in the vaccinated population where people have had a level of invincibility," saysIndeed, in a world where vaccinations and infections have built up immunity, other variants were having trouble gaining a foothold. Yet omicron is thriving.And so scientists are trying to figure out: What accounts for omicron's lightning quick spread?
In fact, omicron has been spreading at a pace that's comparable to how fast the original strain of the coronavirus spread at the very beginning of the pandemic despite the world's newfound levels of immunity.Dr. Joshua Schiffer If confirmed, the findings would support the idea that omicron's increased transmissibility can be ascribed to its"immune evasiveness" — not some other characteristics that make the variant inherently more transmissible, the authors conclude.from the University of Maryland may hint at, although here, too, the findings are preliminary and yet to be peer reviewed.
The findings suggest the spread of omicron could, in part, hinge on the fact that more vaccinated people are contagious and shedding virus, not necessarily that each infected individual is releasing a lot more virus into the air. And if the results hold true, Milton says long distance transmission is unlikely to become a new concern with omicron, above and beyond what's already been seen with other contagious variants like delta.
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