5 ms·

Omicron deaths still zero despite spreading twice as fast as deadly Delta

26 points by pjerem 5y ago

xg15 5y ago
So. A new variant appears out of nowhere with a completely unclear evolution pathway, spreads twice as fast as Delta (despite not being related to Delta) and causes only mild symptoms - despite researchers saying that the coronavirus likely has not much evolutionary pressure to reduce lethality. I guess "positive" conspiracy theories are less appealing, but I'm surprised there has not been any speculation yet that some "good samaritans" could have bioengineered this variant in an attempt to end the pandemic.
- jobigoud 5y ago
  Like a self-replicating contagious vaccine. I've always wondered about this in the context of computing. Why no one creates "virus" that infect a machine, fix the exploit and spread to others using the same exploit used by the original virus. Like an immune system for the network.
  - impendingchange 5y ago
    No profit.
- rasz 5y ago
  There was a guy in march 2020 trying to contact Gates directly with this idea - engineering less dangerous coronavirus and purposefully infecting everyone to push covid19 to the margins. I think he even posted here asking for help.
  - BbzzbB 5y ago
    I mean, it'd be another Pandora's box that can't be closed. It maybe sounds nice until a variant of it emerges with dangerous characteristics that is also a hyper spreader.
- rsynnott 5y ago
  > and causes only mild symptoms I'm a little concerned that people continue to state this as fact. It's very early to be assuming it, based on very limited data.
cmer 5y ago
Could this actually be good? It’s less dangerous but spreads faster, which means more people will build natural immunity faster against past and future more agressive variants. I’m obviously no scientist, but if my logic makes sense, this could actually be an interesting twist of events.
jml7c5 5y ago
Cases and excess deaths are up in many countries, so it's early to say that it's mild. There is an additional wrinkle: a lineage of Omicron (BA.2) has recently been discovered that requires full genetic sequencing to be detected as "Omicron" rather than "regular COVID", because it lacks a feature that allowed PCR tests to detect BA.1. It's becoming known as "stealth Omicron", which is a delightfully rad name. It's possible this lineage has spread widely, which could explain much of the recent rise in seemingly non-Omicron COVID cases and deaths.
more_corn 5y ago
Germany reported it’s highest covid deaths since Feb. The variant is new and we don’t properly test for it, it’ll take a bit till we start correctly attributing the deaths it is causing.
- rasz 5y ago
  If you look at a graph https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/germany/#graph-deaths-daily https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/germany/#g... its just a repeat of last year, the numbers are almost 1:1 the same.

26 points by pjerem 5y ago

xg15 5y ago

So. A new variant appears out of nowhere with a completely unclear evolution pathway, spreads twice as fast as Delta (despite not being related to Delta) and causes only mild symptoms - despite researchers saying that the coronavirus likely has not much evolutionary pressure to reduce lethality. I guess "positive" conspiracy theories are less appealing, but I'm surprised there has not been any speculation yet that some "good samaritans" could have bioengineered this variant in an attempt to end the pandemic.

jobigoud 5y ago
Like a self-replicating contagious vaccine. I've always wondered about this in the context of computing. Why no one creates "virus" that infect a machine, fix the exploit and spread to others using the same exploit used by the original virus. Like an immune system for the network.
- impendingchange 5y ago
  No profit.
rasz 5y ago
There was a guy in march 2020 trying to contact Gates directly with this idea - engineering less dangerous coronavirus and purposefully infecting everyone to push covid19 to the margins. I think he even posted here asking for help.
- BbzzbB 5y ago
  I mean, it'd be another Pandora's box that can't be closed. It maybe sounds nice until a variant of it emerges with dangerous characteristics that is also a hyper spreader.
rsynnott 5y ago
> and causes only mild symptoms I'm a little concerned that people continue to state this as fact. It's very early to be assuming it, based on very limited data.

cmer 5y ago

Could this actually be good? It’s less dangerous but spreads faster, which means more people will build natural immunity faster against past and future more agressive variants. I’m obviously no scientist, but if my logic makes sense, this could actually be an interesting twist of events.

jml7c5 5y ago

Cases and excess deaths are up in many countries, so it's early to say that it's mild. There is an additional wrinkle: a lineage of Omicron (BA.2) has recently been discovered that requires full genetic sequencing to be detected as "Omicron" rather than "regular COVID", because it lacks a feature that allowed PCR tests to detect BA.1. It's becoming known as "stealth Omicron", which is a delightfully rad name. It's possible this lineage has spread widely, which could explain much of the recent rise in seemingly non-Omicron COVID cases and deaths.

more_corn 5y ago

Germany reported it’s highest covid deaths since Feb. The variant is new and we don’t properly test for it, it’ll take a bit till we start correctly attributing the deaths it is causing.

rasz 5y ago
If you look at a graph https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/germany/#graph-deaths-daily https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/germany/#g... its just a repeat of last year, the numbers are almost 1:1 the same.