Omicron’s Ripple Effects: Health, Economy, and Long COVID Concerns

 

The one-eyed became a king among the blind. This old proverb has a very intelligent connotation in today’s times when the WHO is the only legal information authority, and we have a serious credibility issue with it, while we all tend to blindly follow it. WHO has failed us by even defying the basic tenets of logic while it decimates the information about COVID-19, as if this wasn’t enough, they even expect us to follow this blindly, and whoever comments/criticizes it. The highest medical body in the world is not sacrosanct after all.

Now, while the highest medical body declared Omicron as variant of concern it also said that there is no reason to worry about this major variant which was added to the list of variant of concern, while experts all around the world poured their opinion that there is no need to worry about the new variant, I beg to differ on the subject. As the WHO has kept this on the list of variants of concern (Same as delta), we also know that with each mutation, the virus gained more virulence and became more potent, as the youngest hatchlings are weaker and might have already been destroyed by the immune system of an individual. So by that logic, there is a huge chance that omicron has not only mutated but also become more potent, with each further mutation happening outside the country it was last detected in (Botswana).

What are the possibilities?

Well, although the possibilities are well discussed and there has been a major development in it, a few of the possibilities have now been eliminated by far. Here are the possibilities that are now most probable to happen.

While the mutations are more major, there is a possibility of an increase in the rate of mortality from the virus. We have seen a glimpse in UK and Europe (full article), and we shall see this in further countries, the reason this virus has become more and more potent and will continue to become potent is because of the lack of awareness and the nonchalant nature of people towards it, not to mention and people who call themselves anti-vaccination drive people. Or say the people who are against vaccination, as they have reasons to believe that the vaccination will make an individual weak/ kill/ or make them impotent. Which is a false premise.

                There is a chance that the mutation will or say may kill more than 4-6% of people while delta the most potent virus we have seen till date had a mortality rate of less than 1%, this virus is highly mutated and gained more potential, while the figure is a very vague one and not carefully calibrated for that matter it’s a conservative figure but still has a certain amount of logic behind that. While the delta variant had around 18mutationsn and the omicron has about 43 mutations, we have now established that its transmissibility is higher than compared of any other variant. Having established this, the mortality rate of delta was between 1-2% and looking at the mutations of omicron, the mortality should be somewhere around 4-6% (it could be less, but this is just a vague idea).

If the initial reports are to be believed, govt and inter-governmental organizations have said that there is no need to panic as there is no empirical data to come to a solid conclusion, though that is true, we can still analyze things based on previous data.

Omicron, a variant of concern?

Here, I would agree with the WHO, though not an expert on the subject, that it is highly important to understand that no matter how bad the organization is, it would make such a big blunder as to declare something unimportant as a variant of concern. This is something very basic, and hence, Omicron is a variant of concern. Maybe the world doesn’t recognize this now, but it shall eventually recognize that omicron is not only more potent and virulent but also possesses a high mortality rate, and to be very vague, a mortality rate enough to wipe out a sizeable population of a village. Hence, it is a humble request that all the readers please follow the SOPs and government guidelines. Difficult times are going to be ahead.

//be safe and happy reading\\

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