[y66]

Noah Smith interviewing Eric Topol re: omicron variant: https://www.youtube....h?v=kXJuZCX5Mtk

More at https://twitter.com/EricTopol

[Chas_P]

 y66, on 2021-November-26, 19:43, said:

Noah Smith interviewing Eric Topol re: omicron variant: https://www.youtube....h?v=kXJuZCX5Mtk

More at https://twitter.com/EricTopol

What happened to Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Theta, Iota, Kappa, Lambda, Mu, Nu, and Xi? Same as preparations A through G?

[pilowsky]

Today, the President of the United States and the Prime Ministers of the UK and Australia announced a new swimming pool policy.
From Monday at midnight EST, only Federated Australian UK & US alliance members will be permitted to swim in the North section of the pool.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said:

To protect our citizens from unplanned discharges, only alliance members are permitted to swim in our part of the pool.

[Cyberyeti]

 pilowsky, on 2021-November-26, 22:22, said:

Today, the President of the United States and the Prime Ministers of the UK and Australia announced a new swimming pool policy.
From Monday at midnight EST, only Federated Australian UK & US alliance members will be permitted to swim in the North section of the pool.

Sounded more like they wanted the top half of the pool and southern Africa could have the bottom half.

[cherdano]

 Gilithin, on 2021-November-15, 17:14, said:

The last information I saw was recommending a booster for anyone in the right categories over 40.

The CDC recommends that everyone over 50 should get a booster, and everyone over 18 may get a booster. To which I Eric Topol and Michael Osterholm reply:

Quote

"By not strongly urging all fully vaccinated adults to get a 3rd shot, the @CDCgov has failed its responsibility to protect the public, missing a strategy that would limit the surge in cases,"

https://twitter.com/...618125384015873

[kenberg]

I have been absorbing the idea of Omicron over the last two days. Friday we went to the store and bought some toilet paper, it was restricted in the amount you could buy. Good. We wanted to be sure we had some, we were not planning on buying out the store. Friday evening I called some family, some had heard the news already, some hadn't. And then I just took some time to absorb the news and talk with Becky about it.


We had never stopped wearing masks while shopping even if those taking the credit card at the cash register were unmasked. We once again were becoming more social, we will probably retreat some from that.

Of course a month from now we might look back and say "That was nothing, what were we worried about?", but I very much doubt that will be the case.

Kids need playmates. I think they need playmates more than they need to learn the capital cities of states. I suppose the three Rs are always important. I hope we can do a good job with this. Priorities will be important.

[Winstonm]

Delta variant doesn’t sound frightening - but The Omicron sounds like the title of a Stephen King novel.

Take the shot or the Omicron will come for you.

[pilowsky]

 Winstonm, on 2021-November-28, 13:52, said:

Delta variant doesn't sound frightening - but The Omicron sounds like the title of a Stephen King novel.

Take the shot or the Omicron will come for you.

Wait until we get to Omega.

[Winstonm]

 pilowsky, on 2021-November-28, 15:33, said:

Wait until we get to Omega.

That would be a remake - we've already had The Omega Man with Charleston Heston.

Beside, with Omicron you could have a kid sleepwalking carrying a large knife while croaking Nor Cimo, Nor Cimo, Nor Cimo, which sounds spookier than Age Mo, Age Mo, Age Mo.

[Chas_P]

 pilowsky, on 2021-November-28, 15:33, said:

Wait until we get to Omega.

I got my answer today about Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Theta, Iota, Kappa, Lambda, Mu, Nu, and Xi. The WHO said they skipped Nu because it sounds like New and Xi because it's a common name in China. I'm not making this up; I read it on the internet so it must be absolutely true. But I'm still puzzled about Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Theta, Iota, Kappa, Lambda and Mu. Where'd they go?

[kenberg]

 Chas_P, on 2021-November-28, 19:19, said:

I got my answer today about Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Theta, Iota, Kappa, Lambda, Mu, Nu, and Xi. The WHO said they skipped Nu because it sounds like New and Xi because it's a common name in China. I'm not making this up; I read it on the internet so it must be true. But I'm still puzzled about Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Theta, Iota, Kappa, Lambda and Mu. Where'd they go?

I just assumed that the intermediates exist but are not troublesome. Probably the same applies with beta and gamma before delta. As to alpha, it might be the original.

Just before hearing about omicron, less than a full day, I had heard about a nu variant. Given what you say above, I am guessing that it was first declared to be nu but then got renamed as omicron/

This is all guesswork. Maybe they are going by the first letter of the fraternity/sorority of the person who identifies it.

[Chas_P]

 kenberg, on 2021-November-28, 19:49, said:

Maybe they are going by the first letter of the fraternity/sorority of the person who identifies it.

You may be onto something.

[pilowsky]

Or you can just go to the WHO website and find out.
https://www.who.int/...CoV-2-variants/

[kenberg]

 pilowsky, on 2021-November-29, 00:09, said:

Or you can just go to the WHO website and find out.
https://www.who.int/...CoV-2-variants/

So Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Omicron are Variants of Concern (VoC) and Lambda and Mu are Variants of Interest (VoI).
I didn't notice if there are any VNGaHAs, Variants Nobody Gives a Hoot About.

[Winstonm]

 kenberg, on 2021-November-29, 10:38, said:

So Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Omicron are Variants of Concern (VoC) and Lambda and Mu are Variants of Interest (VoI).
I didn't notice if there are any VNGaHAs, Variants Nobody Gives a Hoot About.

I bet if we made syringes in the shape of crucifixes and advertised the vaccine as the antidote to The Omicron we could get the unvaccinated to comply.

[thepossum]

Do people remember not that long ago when we weren't constantly bombarded with and expected to be interested in the miuntiae of tiny changes in viruses that for most of us wouldn't even cause a sniffle or an off day

[hrothgar]

 thepossum, on 2021-November-29, 19:19, said:

Do people remember not that long ago when we weren't constantly bombarded with and expected to be interested in the miuntiae of tiny changes in viruses that for most of us wouldn't even cause a sniffle or an off day

Yeah, that was right before several million people worldwide died of COVID, *****wit

My dad was one of them
My partner's father was another

[Winstonm]

Richard, I am sorry for your losses.

[hrothgar]

 Winstonm, on 2021-December-02, 14:28, said:

Richard, I am sorry for your losses.

Thanks

[y66]

From the Cornell Sun via Noah Smith: