New Covid Variant Omicron Variant COVID - The Good, Bad, and Ugly

we know very little about the omicron variant  b11529 but we're starting to learn some things   and by the end of this video you'll learn the good  the bad and the ugly when it comes to this virus   welcome guys i'm dr mike hansen and by the  end of this video you're going to understand   some important things about omicron with this  virus there is a fine line between overreacting   and being too carefree because it's still so new  how we react depends mainly on three things one   the severity of covid illness that it causes  two how easily it spreads how contagious it is   and then three if it's resistant to our  vaccines does it have vaccine escape   it's unlikely to have total resistance to the  vaccines but there is a good chance that it   will lower the overall effectiveness the answers  are starting to trickle in but it's going to take   time to know for sure and we're going to start to  get real answers in the next few days to few weeks   omicron could be really nasty or it could be a  false alarm or somewhere in between but the most   important thing that we need to do is to learn  about omicron and answer these three questions   what we do know for sure is the  entire genetic sequence of omicron   it has over 30 concerning mutations in its spike  protein especially these omicron shared several   key mutations with two previous variants beta and  gamma that made them less vulnerable to vaccines   the antibodies that are generated from the  vaccines they target three regions on the spike   protein and omicron has mutations in all three  of these regions also the mutations make it more   prone to spread faster by binding more tightly to  the ace2 receptor and get into cells more easily   by tweaking the furon cleavage site because  of all these specific mutations many of which   are already known to be marks of badness and  other variants that promote viral proliferation   viral spread and antibody resistance this is  the bad news so even though we know the genetic   sequence of this virus the technology to reliably  predict how a virus's behavior will change based   on that including whether or not it can evade our  current vaccines that technology doesn't exist   you can't determine the virus behavior  based on purely genetic information   that's why the upcoming studies and  tests on this variant are so crucial   within the next couple of weeks we'll have this  answered though initial data will come from lab   tests of blood samples from vaccinated people and  or lab animals analyzing antibodies in the samples   after exposure to the new variant there's also  going to be labs that are going to be making the   omicron virus and testing it against antibody  sensitivity which will also take a couple weeks   the first real world studies of vaccine  effectiveness in the community will likely   take about three to four weeks and then there is  the ugly by ugly i mean those who are hitting the   panic button you want to be prepared you want  to be concerned but you don't want to overreact   yes this virus looks like it's spreading quickly  not just within south africa but how quickly it's   spreading across the globe it's already in  canada it's in asia it's in europe about 20   countries now and it's also concerning that it  already started spreading within the community   in germany the ugly also includes the overzealous  partial travel restrictions that do nothing more   than to perhaps slow the spread and by some  time especially because the virus already had   global spread before it was identified you don't  want countries to feel punished for reporting   variant information the good news is that of  the known cases it does not seem to cause worse   disease but it's still too early to come to a  definitive conclusion on that but imagine this for   a second let's say hypothetically speaking that  you have a new virus that's super contagious but   at its worst causes nothing more than common cold  without any long-term effects no one would care   why because you wouldn't need a mask you wouldn't  need a vaccine you wouldn't need medications you   wouldn't need restrictions nothing so if and this  is a huge if if it turns out that omicron turns   out to be super contagious but extraordinarily  low virulence that would actually be great news   realistically speaking though it's unlikely that  that's going to be the case it's unlikely to have   super low violence but again we don't know it's  still too early but this question should be   answered in the next couple of weeks of course  sitting on your thumbs though and waiting for   definitive proof is not the smartest way  to react to a virus that has the potential   to cause mass suffering especially if it's  nastier than previous variants so we need to   be vigilant and get the science right and answer  the most important questions as soon as possible   and that's coming soon and for more on the  omicron variant check out this video right here

Channel: Doctor Mike Hansen

Views: 1,728,866

Keywords: omicron, omicron variant, omicron covid, new covid variant, covid omicron, new variant, covid new variant, omicron covid variant, covid omicron variant, covid variant, variant, variant omicron, o variant, omicron variant covid, new covid, omicron variant symptoms, omicron symptoms, what is omicron variant, omicron virus, omicron explained, covid variant omicron, omicron virus symptoms, new covid variant omicron, variant of concern, omicron variant update, dr mike hansen

Id: IsKYcBu9SWY

Length: 4min 49sec (289 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 30 2021