Drum

Can't we do both?

Hrkdrivr

Yes! That and more. It’s our birthright as pilots.

notEnuf

I just want to settle on a naming convention for variants. Delta then Omicron??? What the next one going to be? Hurricanes at least have alphabetical proper names. Endemically speaking we need to get organized.

LumberJack

I guess they didn't want it sounding like a frat party.

J Fish

There actually were named variants between delta and omicron with the exceptions of iota and xi (skipping the latter so as to not anger a certain world leader that lied about it’s release). There were a couple variants of concern in there but the rest didn’t pose enough threat to get MSNBC or CNN to spin up the fear mongering.

Big E 757

This is true. I guess it has mutated 17 (I think) times since Delta, so that’s the reason for the gap in names. According to my Doctor, this Omicron variant is 15x more transmissible than Delta, but as all evidence so far indicates, like all virus mutation progressions, is much less virulent (doesn’t make people as sick) than the initial bugs.

Basically, it has mutated itself into a common cold virus (which it was to begin with, just really severe initially). I think, in another month or so, we will realize this whole Covid thing isn’t really a threat to most of us anymore, and it will just be an Endemic virus, like the cold or flu going forward. That’s my hope, anyway

Prim40

How much more contagious can this thing get? I thought it was incredibly contagious already? Is it so contagious with the Optimus Prime variant that you wink at someone and they catch it now?

DenverPilot8

im with you on hoping for the best but I think you are misstating a few things here. It’s not “common cold” level yet. Everything I’ve read says that initial data is suggesting it’s slightly less severe than Delta. But there is a big difference between common cold and Delta. Also just purely statistically speaking even if less severe a virus that is 15 times more transmissible can actually kill more people and send more people to the hospital. That’s the unfortunate reality. Less dangerous on an individual level agreed but statistically way more people will get it. You’re right in that the general direction of viruses are to mutate to being less severe but this isn’t a guaranteed certainly. Not ALL viruses do that just most. Delta was shown to actually be slightly more severe than Alpha. Before I get attacked for fear mongering or whatever I’m just saying that specifically to what will happen with lock downs and all that I think you could see more of it purely based on higher hospitalization numbers. Not saying it WILL but it’s possible. Again just purely based on way more people getting it. I have come around to the thought however that lockdowns at this point are not worth it. I did see that they are already seeing a slight decline in cases in South Africa so hopefully this thing runs hot and fast and peters out. A few more waves and then yes I agree it becomes closer to the common cold

Herkflyr

Is it just me, or does "Godzilla vs Omicron" sound catchy?

Gunfighter

Here is the virus naming availability list. Think of it like the reserve availability list where names will be randomly skipped like Nu and Xi. I’m really hoping Chi is current on landings and has 30/168.