I wished to make a similar point to your #1. If Omicron is both more contagious and less severe than Delta… that seems like a best-case scenario. Rather than being an important worsening of the pandemic, it could effectively end the pandemic by replacing most existing strains with something even less dangerous (and COVID is already not very dangerous). Though even if this is the case, I don’t expect our health and government authorities to admit it.
Yup. Also consider the following Socratic dialogue:
A: “Viruses evolve be to be less virulent over time because it’s not advantageous to kill your host”
B: “Viruses don’t always do that”
A: “Fair enough. But it’s also not adaptive for viruses to be so bad that they cause societies to shut down completely”
I think one could argue that this is exactly what’s unfolding with Omicron.
I wished to make a similar point to your #1. If Omicron is both more contagious and less severe than Delta… that seems like a best-case scenario. Rather than being an important worsening of the pandemic, it could effectively end the pandemic by replacing most existing strains with something even less dangerous (and COVID is already not very dangerous). Though even if this is the case, I don’t expect our health and government authorities to admit it.
Yup. Also consider the following Socratic dialogue:
A: “Viruses evolve be to be less virulent over time because it’s not advantageous to kill your host” B: “Viruses don’t always do that” A: “Fair enough. But it’s also not adaptive for viruses to be so bad that they cause societies to shut down completely”
I think one could argue that this is exactly what’s unfolding with Omicron.