The New York Times, December 19, 2021 (with Andrew Jacobs)
First identified in Botswana and South Africa in November, the Omicron variant has surged around the world over the past few weeks, faster than any previously known form of the coronavirus. While there’s a lot that scientists have yet to understand about Omicron, what they know already makes it clear that the variant could cause a huge number of new cases and that it could push some hospital systems to the breaking point.
Scientists first recognized Omicron thanks to its distinctive combination of more than 50 mutations. Some of them were carried by earlier variants such as Alpha and Beta, and previous experiments had demonstrated that they could enable a coronavirus to spread quickly. Other mutations were known to help coronaviruses evade antibodies produced by vaccines.
Continue reading “This is what researchers know about how Omicron works.”