“The more realistic goal of resistance to the virus will allow more focused efforts towards the endgame.”

  The new Omicron variant came at a time when the nation’s supply of medical equipment and workers have been strained for months. However, this stress has been eased by the federally funded program that allows American citizens to order up to four at home COVID testing kits directly to their homes.

   This program has had trouble getting off the ground, as many states have complained that they are not receiving the amount of COVID tests promised to them by both the federal government and the distributors. This is due to a continuous conflict between federal and state governments to receive their at-home COVID tests from the distributors. CNN reported that Chief medical officer at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, Dr. Marcus Plescia, stated “we have heard some states are not getting their full supplies.” Plescia later added that the US Department of Health and Human Services has said “states should hold suppliers accountable, as the federal contracts required suppliers to prioritize existing orders before selling to the federal program.” This problem has affected many states.

  Charles Patterson, Clark County Ohio Combined Health District Commissioner, reported that the state health department cut off their supply of COVID tests with no stated reason. This coincided with the federal government increasing their supply of the same types of tests. Patterson stated later that, “It doesn’t take much to put two and two together.” The white house would later dispute this claim stating that the distributors of tests had been repeatedly overpromising on the amount of tests they could produce and blaming the details of the government contract when they couldn’t deliver. No matter the source of this confusion, the chaotic political environment could not be more untimely as the new Omicron variant has been proven to be much more sinister than its past counterparts.

   The medical world has been scrambling to understand the exact nature of this new variant. The initial research has shown that the symptoms present in this new variant affect the upper respiratory system (the nose, mouth, and throat) and are much milder than the types that came before it. Doctors have even gone as far as saying that Omicron has a much smaller rate of hospitalizations or severe lung disease than earlier variants. The Omicron variant seems to have a much smaller incubation period – the period between the virus entering your system and the initial symptoms presenting themselves. Incubation periods as short as three days have been reported. Dr. Angelique Coetzee, chair of the South African Medical Association, noted, “The few that progressed to pneumonia only started around day 10-12 with shortness of breath, feverish feeling, and a slight cough.”

   This means that the virus is now going through the process of infecting its hosts much faster. In the long run this implies that the virus will spread much faster than any other form of COVID seen up until this point. The most common symptoms, as reported by a study conducted in London, are headache, runny nose, fatigue, sneezing, and sore throat. The Omicron variant also had an increase in occurrences of asymptomatic carriage than any other that had come before. What this means is that the virus is more likely to infect people without presenting any symptoms. Many medical professionals cite this as one of the main reasons for Omi-cron’s spread. The new variant raised the rate of people carrying the virus without symptoms from 2.6% to 16% of all affected.

   This new development affects the “endgame” COVID treatment. Many medical professionals expressed hope that, in time, a herd immunity could be created to insulate against more COVID outbreaks. Herd immunity is the idea that a disease can no longer be spread due to enough people being immune to it. With Americans nearly 62% vaccinated this seemed near at hand. This data shows a trend towards the dampening and weakening of COVID- as opposed to complete eradication. The Omicron variant is no more deadly than any other variant. It simply shows that the virus’s mutations are increasing and trending towards quicker spread and lower lethality. The “end” of COVID will most likely see COVID become much less lethal and quick-spreading than it has been in the past as more and more people get vaccinated. The COVID shot could very well be a yearly or biyearly doctors appointment. I personally believe this is good. The shock of the Omicron variant’s spread has forced many leaders, scientists, and civilians to face the reality of COVID. The more realistic goal of resistance to the virus will allow more focused efforts towards the endgame.

   The idea is that while COVID might be a permanent part of the world, it will become something akin to the flu that is inconvenient and uncomfortable, but not highly lethal.