That's fine, I wasn't intending to promote excitement, but some are saying now we have a weak variant it's all over and I don't personally think it is.
The preprint wasn't published as established info, it was presented as a preprint. They are quite commonly published and this doesn't devalue them.
The WHO has a number "under monitoring" which is about their lowest level of recognition and threat (below Variants of Concern and Variants of Interest, and I just noticed that this one was added to that list near the end of Nov, about the same time as Omicron, so clearly it isn't as transmissible, at least!
Just for interest & clarity, "under monitoring" is defined as "A SARS-CoV-2 variant with genetic changes that are suspected to affect virus characteristics with some indication that it may pose a future risk, but evidence of phenotypic or epidemiological impact is currently unclear, requiring enhanced monitoring and repeat assessment pending new evidence."
www.who.int/en/activities/tracking-SARS-CoV-2-variants/
and I was moderately interested in this page which shows some boffins (I presume) discussing the formation of a new lineage. github.com/cov-lineages/pango-designation/issues/297 but it is of no consequence other than of interest, showing amongst other things, that, at least at a high level, they know a reasonable amount about the characteristics of a new variant before it appears in the press - and these are just the chappies placing it in a list.
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