The emergence of the omicron variant this fall, with an origin story that experts say remains shrouded in mystery, became the latest sharp turn for researchers trying to catch up with the virus and its variants.
As omicron infections accumulate, so will immunity in the population.
As the proportion of omicron cases rises across the world, the chances of a delta resurgence could fall. On the other hand, omicron could also evolve to become more pathogenic or acquire the ability to better replicate in the lungs, Moore said, outlining several in a slew of possibilities., including BA.1, which accounts for most U.S. cases, and BA.2. Some countries, including Denmark, have observed a recent rise in the proportion of BA.2 cases, but it’s not yet clear what effect genetic differences between the subvariants mean for disease severity, transmissibility or immunity.
The second possibility is that the virus spread quietly in a population of people who were not having samples tested or sequenced by researchers, all the while accumulating mutations as it spread from person to person.
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