Omicron

[AnotherSailor]

 
 
Not too many greek speakers here either
What are the 24 Greek letters in order?
 
 







The letters of the Greek alphabet are: alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon, zeta, eta, theta, iota, kappa, lambda, mu, nu1, xi, omicron, pi1, rho, sigma, tau, upsilon, phi, chi1, psi1, omega.

So yes, all of those letters up to omicron, except for two, have been different variants. A virus that can party globally has a lot of chances to mutate. Some of those are worrisome, others not. So unless you follow this closely you have not heard of the epsilon or kappa variant. I am sure some conspiracy nitwit will tie this to the Chinese because the letters have been skipped. UGH

 

[weightless]

A virus that can party globally has a lot of chances to mutate

So choosing a naming convention with a cardinality of 24 (less the tricky ones) was farsighted?

 

[shaggy]

Safe travels!

Hey Eye, I value your input so I figured I would ask.  I am heading to Chicago for a wedding soon.  It's basically a make up wedding from 2020 during covid.  Everyone was required to show vax cards with RSVP etc..  So.  I gotta fly.  I have avoided flying for 2 years, mostly because of the people...  I am In co and they are talking mask mandates etc for omicron.  So...  Do I go???  I have no problem with the venue etc as we have known everyone since I was like 5, and I got the booster a week ago, but omicron???  Do we need to isolate from stuff like this again???  

 

[NeedAClew]

Get N95 or KN95 masks and don't unmask once in airport until out of Chicago Airport. Then discard it and put on a clean one. 

 

[Parma]

What is wrong with epsilon? Omnicron is hard to say

Yeah, I think it's a bad name too. They should go alphabetically, like hurricanes.

When we get to "S" it's "Sonny" because

 

[ShortForBob]

And have your very own stalker. 

I wouldn't elevate it to that.. more like a mildly irritating but kind of amusing chip munk. 

 

[LB 15]

Xi ? if they'd of used that all hell would have broken loose.. because  of Xi Jinping president of China..

And yet 6 months ago they didn’t give a fuck about Delta Goodrems’s feelings.

 

[dogwatch]

So choosing a naming convention with a cardinality of 24 (less the tricky ones) was farsighted?

Bearing in mind there already is a long unique alphanumerical code for each variant and the “popular” name was meant to be short and non-political in implication, what would you have suggested?

 

[phill_nz]

c19 ... a/b/c

i would go on but most could work it out from there

 

[dogwatch]

c19 ... a/b/c

i would go on but most could work it out from there

That doesn't solve weightlessness' cardinality complaint.

 

[phill_nz]

convention would progress through either sub sets aa ab ac or a1 a2 a3

till you eventually get to b.1.1.529

it was supposed to be only a simple / quick name for quick referencing

why over complicate it

 

[Rain Man]

Bearing in mind there already is a long unique alphanumerical code for each variant and the “popular” name was meant to be short and non-political in implication, what would you have suggested?

Name them celestial bodies.  Won't run out of those.

 

[dogwatch]

Name them celestial bodies.  Won't run out of those.

Ah. Like Alpha Centauri.

 

[dogwatch]

it was supposed to be only a simple / quick name for quick referencing

why over complicate it

My point exactly.

 

[AnotherSailor]

convention would progress through either sub sets aa ab ac or a1 a2 a3

till you eventually get to b.1.1.529

it was supposed to be only a simple / quick name for quick referencing

why over complicate it

Well, not sure about simple: it was political from the beginning, or at least an avoidance of things becoming political. Some refer to "the China virus," then we got variants such as the British or Brazilian. The mutations did not necessarily occur in the countries where they were discovered. It can also mean that the countries that discover them have excellent ways to detect them. So the naming is supposed to take out the shaming and closures of borders as is currently happening to South Africa, so that indeed countries do not shy away from researching new strains. 

Whether the neutral names are successful in accomplishing this is questionable, although many have forgotten where the Delta variant was first detected (hint: I did not name the country). It is still astonishing to me how quickly these new variants spread around the globe. One would think we have put enough precautions around travel, but nope.

 

[Raz'r]

convention would progress through either sub sets aa ab ac or a1 a2 a3

till you eventually get to b.1.1.529

it was supposed to be only a simple / quick name for quick referencing

why over complicate it

Because people can't remember that. Our brains CAN remember names. Same reason we name tropical storms. We can anthropomorphize them and give them personalities, remember their traits, etc. 

 

[EYESAILOR]

Hey Eye, I value your input so I figured I would ask.  I am heading to Chicago for a wedding soon.  It's basically a make up wedding from 2020 during covid.  Everyone was required to show vax cards with RSVP etc..  So.  I gotta fly.  I have avoided flying for 2 years, mostly because of the people...  I am In co and they are talking mask mandates etc for omicron.  So...  Do I go???  I have no problem with the venue etc as we have known everyone since I was like 5, and I got the booster a week ago, but omicron???  Do we need to isolate from stuff like this again???  

Sorry Shaggy,

I'm not the right person to give you personal advice. I'm a physician but I am not your physician. Travel decisions can depend on personal factors. But no physician should be giving you any personal advice on the internet anyway.

However I have flown recently and I am happy to share some common sense pointers that would apply to anyone and that others have shared.

• Most (if not all) airlines require masks are worn from check in to disembarkation. I think that it is a federal regulation but in case I am wrong, check that you are using an airline that requires masks. (If they hand out complimentary Ivermectin tablets and allow chickens and livestock as carry on luggage, they probably dont wear masks)
  
• I echo Clew's advice. If you can get hold of an N95 mask that is much better than the surgical masks that many are wearing. My personal opinion is that KN95s do not quite meet the same standard as N95s but, again, they are considerably better than surgical masks. I have no scientific basis for my opinion on KN95s. It is just that I dont want to buy stuff built to a Chinese standard if I can get stuff built to a US standard.  Many doctors offices use KN95s and do just fine. I just happen to have a supply of N95s.
  
• Vaccinated and the Booster gives you a higher level of protection. Hopefully you have left more than a week for the Booster to rebuild your immunity level.
  
• Finally, are the hosts going to ask the attendees to take a Covid test in the morning before they come to the ceremony? I attended a ceremony recently and the hosts asked everyone to take a quick antigen test before coming to the ceremony.  It was easy to do, and everyone happily complied.  It made for a safe, enjoyable and relaxed event.  This is a self test done at home or in your hotel room and you get a result in 15 - 20 minutes. Is it 100% accurate at identifying if you have Covid? Nope.....but it is very reliable at identifying Covid if you are at the contagious stage and shedding virus molecules. Maybe something to suggest to your hosts?  The cost is approx $10-15 per test and I cant think of a nicer additional wedding gift than a covid free ceremony.
  

 

[weightless]

Bearing in mind there already is a long unique alphanumerical code for each variant and the “popular” name was meant to be short and non-political in implication, what would you have suggested?

A short and simple alphanumeric code? Windows 11 following Windows 10 doesn't seem to confuse the masses.  Would Variant 1, 2, ..., n be hard? Worse than a very short list of names that most people are not familiar with?

 

[Rain Man]

Ah. Like Alpha Centauri.

I can't take credit for the idea.  One of my genius students came up with it after I asked her to come up with a naming convention for the computers in our school.  We had several hundred of them and needed to give each one an identifier.   It worked well, and lasted for years until the "geniuses" at the district office decided they needed at district-wide naming convention and went to a numerical encoding system that just gave them numbers.  

 

[EYESAILOR]

A short and simple alphanumeric code? Windows 11 following Windows 10 doesn't seem to confuse the masses.  Would Variant 1, 2, ..., n be hard? Worse than a very short list of names that most people are not familiar with?

The variants do have an alphanumeric code. Before Delta there was of course B.1.617.1 and after Delta (B.1.617.2) there was B.1.617.3 and doubtless you recall B.1.1.7

Feel free to refer to them by their alphanumeric code but people are more likely to know what you are talking about if you refer to the Variants of Concern by their allocated name.