Cold Covid - part the tenth

In case anyone is wondering why the medical community is calling Covid-ο "a tsunami coming" for the unvaccinated, a bit of arithmetic will do:
1% of 1,000 = 10 (this is Covid-ο)
2% of 400 = 8 (previous Covid-19)

Scale that example up to the millions, and consider what happens to the healthcare system. A report within the last few days now pegs Covid-ο's replication at 70 times Covid-δ!! That's some mojo. (I heard one teeVee report say 70 times transmission, which really got my attention. Details, details.)

In lung tissue taken from a human patient, the researchers found that the Omicron variant replicated roughly 70 times more in the bronchial tissue that makes up tubes leading into the lungs than did the Delta variant after 24 hours. However, Omicron variant replicated more than 10 times slower in lung tissue than the original coronavirus variant. It's difficult to extrapolate clinical outcomes from this type of lab-based research, but the researchers suggest in the news release that the fast bronchial replication could explain why the Omicron variant seems to be so highly infectious — spreading more than twice as quickly as Delta
[my emphasis; and Covid-δ is twice ancestral Covid-19]

So, rate of infection/hospital/death is only half the equation, so to speak. The unvaccinated will be decimated by Covid-ο. Good on them.

It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future.
-- Yogi Berra

You do remember the surge/wave/tsunami of Covid-ε?? You don't?? Neither do I. But that doesn't mean it wasn't predicted.

After an initial increase, its frequency rapidly dropped from February 2021 as it was being outcompeted by the more transmissible Alpha variant. In April, Epsilon remained relatively frequent in parts of northern California, but it had virtually disappeared from the south of the state and had never been able to establish a foothold elsewhere; only 3.2% of all cases in the United States were Epsilon, whereas by then more than two-thirds were Alpha.

(And, naturally, Covid-α went the way of all flesh (Michigan notably excepted) once Covid-δ got into the act.)

But, of course, some cried Wolf! about Covid-ε earlier

Dr. Chiu also noted that the variant was involved in a number of outbreaks where large numbers of people got infected. "There are worrisome signs that this variant may be highly transmissible," he said.

Still, I'm among those who find that Covid-ο will put a beatdown on the anti-vaxxers. Good for them. Oh, and yet another one has been buried by it. Good for him.