Yeah, But…

So what?

Virologists have voiced concerns about the emergence of yet another rapidly spreading Omicron variant, which is rapidly gaining ground in India and has already arrived in the UK.

The BA.2.75 variant – nicknamed “Centaurus” – was first detected in India in early May. Here, cases have since risen steeply – and apparently faster than those of the extremely transmissible BA.5 variant, which is also present in India, and is rapidly displacing the previously dominant BA.2 variant in many countries.

It spreads rapidly and it is evolving. It even has a scary new name, but, so what?

Griffin cited it as yet another example of the virus’s impressive capacity to tolerate changes in its spike protein – the part it uses to infect cells, and which most Covid vaccines are based on.

So the vaccines were a bit of a waste of time then?

In addition to vaccines, longer-term plans should include variant-agnostic measures to prevent infections and reinfections. “This includes creating infection-resilient environments through improved ventilation, filtration, or sterilisation of indoor air, sensible re-provision of lateral flow tests, and appropriate and supported isolation periods that will actually reduce ongoing transmission,” he said.

Good grief!

The important bit, the only bit that really matters, is how serious is this variant? Is it more deadly? If not, why are we worried? The deafening silence on this important consideration leaves me thinking that it isn’t. If it was, they would be shouting it from the rooftops. That it is likely to be mild, means that no reaction is necessary. Let it rip and get on with our lives. The Black Death, this isn’t. Nothing to see here other than another attempt by the usual suspects to panic us. However, this boy has cried ‘wolf,’ too many times now.