'Stealth omicron' is now in North Texas. Is it a new COVID variant? What we know.

[TheProle]

Source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center say there are at least two cases of a new form of omicron, “stealth omicron,” in North Texas.

Texas is one of a few states where stealth omicron has been detected. Along with the cases in North Texas, three cases have been identified in Houston.

Stealth omicron cases have been found in 40 countries. In the U.S., there are about 100 cases.

In Denmark, where stealth omicron cases are rapidly increasing, it went from 20% of cases in December, to 45% of cases two weeks ago, and now it’s about 65% of cases.

Read more: https://www.star-telegram.com/news/coronavirus/article257785748.html

[pandr32]

1. Uh-oh. Here we go.

[Lonestarblue]

2. Given the number of antivaxxers and antimaskers in Texas, it will be here in Austin in no time.

I’m tired of these people just continuing to spread the virus because they have the freedom to ignore doing harm to other people.

[ananda]

10. Some odd form is already here in Austin.

I still mask up and try to stay as safe as possible.

[dalton99a]

3. It is also in Houston

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/health/article/COVID-Help-Desk-How-do-I-know-whether-my-16790122.php

[SoCalDavidS]

4. 100 Cases In America?

There's probably 100 Times that many. We just don't know about them yet.

[Gilbert Moore]

5. It's not stealth,

It's called BA.2.

Reporters ....Geez

EDIT: It's Omicron BA.2

[L. Coyote]

7. Searched "stealth omicron" on Twitter, the trolls are really busy.

Amazing how many insensitive assholes exist. With over five percent of my demographic dying after getting infected, I have zero fucks to give the anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers, they are a direct threat to my life. Can I stand my ground?

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[monkeyman1]

11. reporter's nowadays are not reporters!! just over paid bull-shit slinger's !!

[GB_RN]

6. This Was First ID'd In Britain A While Ago...

It has increased infectiousness over the regular Omicron variant, which doesn't bode well. Given that peak Omicron had over 800k cases per day here (granted, that was with holiday travel), if this gets a good run, we could see dramatic numbers again. While the numbers might not get as high as Omicron itself, since there won't be holiday travel to boost them, they'd still be significantly elevated over Delta.

[moriah]

21. It's a sublineage of Omicron, so I'm hopeful...

... that if nothing else those who have already had an infection and recovered in the last 90 days (on top of boosters) will not get hit with BA.2. As my state is lowering numbers of active known cases but still has a heck of a lot of sick people (plus they are shutting down the one place we can see ICU numbers over weekends).

It's only considered "stealth" because it's lacking a mutation scientists were using to distinguish Omicron from other variants.

The reason I hope this is if it becomes the dominant strain here before mid-March, the elderly couple down the street who have essentially adopted me and got breakthrough cases this month will still have a few Omicron-specific antibodies left and can fight it off. The woman did well but her husband was ill enough to be saying over and over again "I'm so glad I got the shots" -- he couldn't imagine what it would have done to him without at least some immunity (or, more precisely, he *was* imagining it and seeing death).

[IronLionZion]

8. Maskholes will stealthily share it with as many as they can

[L. Coyote]

9. Positive ratres are very alarming in many locations, esp.in AZ:

Link to tweet

[cstanleytech]

12. Unless this variant increases the mortality rate I am not going

to join the crowd (hopefully a small crowd) that is bound to start running around like a chicken with its head cut off.
Why? Because this virus is probably not going away just like the flu isn’t and also like the flu this virus is going to keep producing new variants.
Best we can really do is take what reasonable precautions we can such as getting vaccinated, washing our hands and not to mention trying to avoid large crowds.
That and fucking staying home when we are sick and not being an asshole and going out to dinner when we know we have it like a certain politician recently did.

[justhanginon]

13. You forgot masking. Pretty important preventative measure.

[cstanleytech]

17. That to. nt

[C Moon]

14. I guess the Super Bowl will be a Super Spreader, and it will be in Los Angeles.

There's no way those spectators are going to keep their free N95 masks on while eating, drinking and cheering.

[Natal]

15. Excuse me, but "Stealth" is NOT a letter in the Greek Alphabet

Sorry, but I'm still pissed that Epsilon, which comes immediately after Delta, was screwed out of its rightful place!

[Lucky Luciano]

16. President Xi is responsible maybe even more than tr**p with his own cover ups. They skipped Xi too!

[TheProle]

18. Give it time

"Every time there's a new variant, first of all, we will get a name," Arwady said. "So if this is something we have to worry about, nobody will call it the 'stealth something,' it would get a Greek letter name."

The World Health Organization classifies omicron overall as a variant of concern, but it doesn’t single out BA.2 with a designation of its own. Given its rise in some countries, however, the agency says investigations of BA.2 “should be prioritized."

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/coronavirus/chicagos-top-doctor-talks-stealth-omicron-subvariant-what-we-know-about-ba-2/2739100/

[wackadoo wabbit]

20. Actually, there was a named Epsilon variant

It just didn't turn out to be much of a threat, so it's no longer considered a Variant of Interest according to WHO.

[mahina]

19. Rats. Paywalled on this and the Houston

Last edited Fri Jan 28, 2022, 07:38 PM - Edit history (1)

Chronical article below. I have no idea what this is. Guess I’ll have to wait till I can find something I can read. Sounds bad.

Found this video link https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/know-ba2-newest-covid-omicron-variant-rcna13784?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=news_tab