What to Know About the New Dominant Covid Variant

While severe illness in older adults and people with underlying conditions is always a concern, as is long Covid in anyone who gets infected, experts say EG.5 and HV.1 do not pose a substantial threat — or at least no more of one than any of the other major variants that have circulated this year.

Are We Testing Wrong for Omicron?

Some scientists say the nose-only approach is missing early infections, but the FDA warns against throat swabbing.

FDA finds 3 COVID-19 tests that fail to detect the omicron variant

As omicron continues to spread worldwide, public health experts contend it's critical that currently available COVID-19 tests are able to detect the variant and work as well as they did in detecting other strains such as delta. However, mutations in the viral targets of some tests could result in false negative results, according to FDA.

Omicron is exploding. Here’s what to do if you’ve been exposed

If you find out you’ve been exposed to someone who’s tested positive for Covid-19, a rush of questions might come to mind: Do I have to quarantine? What if I can’t find a good mask or a test? Even if I test negative, can I be certain that I’m not contagious?

We Know a Lot More About Omicron Now

Here’s how to think about all the emerging data.

What is the new COVID-19 variant BA.2, and will it cause another wave of infections in the US?

A new omicron subvariant of the virus that causes COVID-19, BA.2, is quickly becoming the predominant source of infections amid rising cases around the world. Immunologists Prakash Nagarkatti and Mitzi Nagarkatti of the University of South Carolina explain what makes it different from previous variants, whether there will be another surge in the U.S. and how best to protect yourself.

How bad is Omicron? What scientists know so far

COVID researchers are working at breakneck speed to learn about the variant’s transmissibility, severity and ability to evade vaccines.

How Reliable Are Covid-19 Rapid Tests for Detecting Omicron?

Rapid tests help us navigate risk during the current wave, but studies raise questions about their ability to detect the Omicron variant.

I'm shocked by the racist cartoons and travel bans sparked by omicron

More alarming than the news headlines are the policies by several Western or wealthy nations to ban travelers from Africa as a way to stem the spread of this variant. This action is an unscientific kneejerk reaction that will have severe economic consequences for African countries struggling to recover from the impacts of the pandemic.

Omicron, Now 2 Years Old, Is Not Done With Us Yet

The dominant variant of the coronavirus has proved to be not only staggeringly infectious, but an evolutionary marvel.

What to Know About BA.2, the New 'Stealth' Version of the Omicron Variant

Omicron’s ‘close cousin’ has mutations that could alter how it behaves and has begun to surpass Covid’s most common variety in parts of Europe and Asia.

America Is Not Ready for Omicron

The new variant poses a far graver threat at the collective level than the individual one—the kind of test that the U.S. has repeatedly failed.

An Omicron oddity: The number of cases doesn’t predict the number of deaths

So, according to the math, Omicron cases rising no longer automatically means impending doom and gloom, nor does it require apocalyptic language like we’re hearing from the media and political leaders implying mass waves of death with rapidly increasing case rates.

As omicron heats up in the U.S., South Africa says its wave is on the way out

One silver lining to the latest surge: South African researchers have found that those infected with omicron in the country are, on average, less likely to end up in the hospital. And, as NPR's Michaeleen Doucleff has reported, they also appear to recover more quickly from illness, compared to the other variants.

Beyond Omicron: what’s next for COVID’s viral evolution

The rapid spread of new variants offers clues to how SARS-CoV-2 is adapting and how the pandemic will play out over the next several months.

Clues to Omicron Variant’s U.S. Spread Include Test Samples, Sewage

Researchers are racing to determine how widespread the Omicron variant might be across the U.S., scouring Covid-19 test samples and in some cases even examining wastewater.

Despite omicron, Covid-19 will become endemic. Here’s how.

The variant has changed how we get from “pandemic” to “endemic,” but that doesn’t mean we’re back to square one.

Early data from South Africa hints Omicron variant may cause less severe Covid, but more research is needed

As the world waits for studies that give a clear picture of the Omicron variant, early clinical data emerging from South Africa hint at a virus that may cause less severe cases of Covid-19.

Getting sick from Omicron protects vaccinated individuals against a wide range of variants better than a booster, studies find

... two new studies offer a small consolation for vaccinated individuals who suffer breakthrough infections. The infection leaves you with protections that may be more effective than those offered by a second booster.

Hospitals Scramble as Antibody Treatments Fail Against Omicron

Hospitals, drug companies and Biden administration officials are racing to address one of the Omicron variant’s biggest threats: Two of the three monoclonal antibody treatments that doctors have depended on to keep Covid-19 patients from becoming seriously ill do not appear to thwart the latest version of the coronavirus.

How Long Does Omicron Take to Make You Sick?

The new variant seems to be our quickest one yet. That makes it harder to catch with the tests we have.

How to recognize Covid-19 symptoms from the omicron variant

A mild Covid-19 case from omicron might feel like a cold. You should still take it seriously.

Let's Not Be Fatalistic About Omicron. We Know How to Fight It

How did high-income countries respond to the news? Unfortunately, with knee-jerk travel bans rather than anything that might be mistaken for a coherent public health response.

Omicron Is the Beginning of the End

No matter the severity of the variant, the appetite for shutdowns or other large-scale social interventions simply isn’t there.

Omicron is the new COVID kid on the block: five steps to avoid, ten to take immediately

All travel bans accomplish in countries with selective red-listed countries is delay the inevitable. More could possibly be accomplished by rigorous exit and entry screening programmes to identify potential cases and mandating vaccination.

Omicron looks ominous. How bad is it likely to be?

Much has been learnt about how to treat covid-19 and how to live with it

Omicron Prompts Swift Reconsideration of Boosters Among Scientists

Many public health experts were opposed to a boosters-for-all approach. The new variant is changing some minds.

Omicron: everything you need to know about new Covid variant

There is no information yet on whether the variant leads to a change in Covid symptoms or severity – this is something South African scientists will be closely monitoring. Since there is a lag between infections and more serious illness, it will take several weeks before any clear data is available. At this stage, scientists say there is no strong reason to suspect that the latest variant will be either worse or milder.

Omicron’s Explosive Growth Is a Warning Sign

We don’t know how severe Omicron is, but we do know it’s spreading very fast.

Please Do Not Just Go Get Omicron

For vaccinated and otherwise healthy people, it may seem tempting to live a normal life and get Omicron over with. Here are some reasons why you shouldn't.

The good and bad news about the omicron variant

Omicron may be less risky for each of us — but more risky for all of us.

The W.H.O. skips forward two Greek letters, avoiding a Xi variant

Now the alphabet has created its own political headache. When it came time to name the potentially dangerous new variant that has emerged in southern Africa, the next letter in alphabetical order was Nu, which officials thought would be too easily confused with “new.” The letter after that was even more complicated: Xi, a name that in its transliteration, though not its pronunciation, happens to belong to the leader of China, Xi Jinping. So they skipped both and named the new variant Omicron.

Travel bans aren’t the answer to stopping new COVID variant Omicron

Travel bans on countries detecting new variants, and the subsequent economic costs, may also act as a disincentive for countries to reveal variants of concern in future. The WHO does not generally recommend flight bans or other forms of travel embargoes. Instead, it argues interventions of proven value should be prioritised: vaccination, hand hygiene, physical distancing, well-fitted masks, and good ventilation.

US experts question whether counting Covid cases is still the right approach

Case counts ‘don’t reflect what they used to’, experts argue, as data suggests Omicron is less severe but more contagious.

We Know Almost Nothing About the Omicron Variant

Here’s everything we do.

What makes the omicron variant so strange and surprising

The mutations in omicron hint at what’s to come in the Covid-19 pandemic.

What the Omicron Wave Looks Like at One Brooklyn E.R.

The nature of this variant, combined with widespread vaccine use, may make it seem less severe in some ways than earlier ones. It doesn’t always feel like that here.

What to know about omicron, the new COVID variant

New coronavirus variants crop up all the time. Why are health officials so concerned about this one?

What we know and don’t know about the omicron coronavirus variant

Guesses about the new variant abound, but only time will tell if it can compete with delta.