Not meaning to be a wet blanket, but pools of the virus are in a number of other species (eg., white-tailed deer), probably introduced by humans. And, contrary to what KyleTingle claims, it is not clear that the virus originated in China in the first jump from the bats. It will likely be jumping back and forth among human populations and between human and other animal populations for the foreseeable future. As far as treatment options, the Merck product, a replicase inhibitor, is somewhat less effective than originally thought, as often appears to be the case for such inhibitors. The Pfizer product, a protease inhibitor, seems to be more effective, and there are undoubtedly other such drugs in the process of development. One final note. There is little data yet on the clinical manifestations of the omicron variant. Given the number of mutations, it could be more, less or the same in pathological effects than delta. The best advice I have seen is to get vaccinated, use caution in public spaces, and Don’t Panic.
VT8/VF84 over 2 years ago
We still can’t get the populations ( for the good of the planet) to get free jabs, and end the spread.
martens over 2 years ago
Not meaning to be a wet blanket, but pools of the virus are in a number of other species (eg., white-tailed deer), probably introduced by humans. And, contrary to what KyleTingle claims, it is not clear that the virus originated in China in the first jump from the bats. It will likely be jumping back and forth among human populations and between human and other animal populations for the foreseeable future. As far as treatment options, the Merck product, a replicase inhibitor, is somewhat less effective than originally thought, as often appears to be the case for such inhibitors. The Pfizer product, a protease inhibitor, seems to be more effective, and there are undoubtedly other such drugs in the process of development. One final note. There is little data yet on the clinical manifestations of the omicron variant. Given the number of mutations, it could be more, less or the same in pathological effects than delta. The best advice I have seen is to get vaccinated, use caution in public spaces, and Don’t Panic.