Covid Act Now Special Edition Download22:15 ET 29 November 2021 It's Giving Tuesday!We are a small non-profit working relentlessly since March 2020 to bring you trustworthy COVID information.For this installment of the Special Edition Download, we are doing a deep dive into the breaking news of the new variant of concern, Omicron. It will be a few weeks before we know anything definitive about Omicron, and scientists are racing to learn more. While some outlets are incorrectly stating assumptions as fact, we’re breaking down what we do know today.
What We Know About OmicronThe World Health Organization (WHO) designated the new variant that first emerged in South Africa, known as “Omicron,” as a variant of concern on Nov. 26. There are thousands of COVID variants, but the WHO team designates only certain ones as “variants of concern.” Variants of viruses occur when there is a change — or mutation — to the virus’s genes. Mutations in viruses are neither new nor unexpected. Omicron has sparked major concern because of its sheer amount of mutations. While scientists cannot predict how infectious a virus is based on mutations alone, some of the Omicron mutations look like they could affect transmissibility, and others suggest the virus could excel at evading human antibodies. Omicron has also caused concern because of the uptick in cases in South Africa coinciding with its discovery there. However, some scientists warn this could be attributed to a super spreader event and low vaccination rates, and not necessarily an indication that Omicron itself is more transmissible.
While we wait for more information to emerge, we need to double down on what we know works: Make sure you and your family are vaccinated and boosted, mask up, and mentally prepare to be more cautious if the new variant proves to be more infectious and/or immune-evasive. As new treatments are being developed and getting approved, the longer you can postpone getting COVID, the lower your chances of hospitalization. The Obstacles of Identifying Variants South Africa has one of the most sophisticated infection disease infrastructures in the world. While Omicron was first identified in South Africa, it may have just been the first country with the technology to identify it. While many countries are scaling up these abilities, most countries lack the technology, funding, and support. Many scientific and global leaders have been criticizing the travel bans to countries in southern Africa since the announcement, arguing that travel bans do very little to stop the spread and could even cause more harm than good. Potentially, when countries that are proactive about disclosing circulation of a new variant are immediately hit with travel restrictions, that could disincentivize officials from being as forthcoming. The WHO director-general said Omicron demonstrates just why the world needs a new global consensus regarding how to manage pandemics. A potential new global treaty, expected in 2024, would cover issues such as sharing of data and genome sequences of emerging viruses, and of potential vaccines derived from research. Addressing Vaccine Inequity The rise of a new variant of concern also recenters our conversations on vaccine equity across the world. The more the disease spreads among unvaccinated and vulnerable populations, the more possibilities it has to mutate and potentially become more dangerous, prolonging the pandemic for everyone. Approximately 82 percent of doses have been acquired by wealthy countries, and less than 1 percent have been sent to low-income ones. COVAX was supposed to avoid such inequality — but instead, the initiative is woefully short of shots and has already abandoned its initial goal of 2 billion doses. Many leaders also called for all countries to have the ability to produce their own vaccines. To accomplish this, they asked for a temporary waiver of some provisions of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights during U.N. meetings. While we encourage all Americans to get their booster shots, we also acknowledge the dire realities that there are still 3.6 billion people unvaccinated. Without a genuine effort to chip away at that number, we could face a seemingly endless cycle of resurgences and new variants. On Another Note When Jonas Salk, who created the Polio vaccine, was asked who owned the patent for his creation, he replied: “Well, the people, I would say. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?” Looking to access all the COVID data you see on our website?Check out our API. It contains state, metro, and county-level data that is aggregated from a number of official sources, quality-assured, and updated daily. It’s available in JSON and CSV format. ContactGeneral Inquiries: ⬤ ⬤ ⬤ ⬤ ⬤*Key Indicators (How we determine risk levels)Daily New Cases: How many new cases are confirmed daily? |