If you’ve been keeping up with the news about Covid-19 you’ve probably heard of the term “Omicron”. However, with everything that’s been happening so far, all of these new terms may be confusing. That’s why we are here to shed some light on the current situation.
What is Omicron?
Omicron is a variant of Covid-19. What this means is that by being spread among millions of people, Covid-19 has naturally mutated to have different attributes. Omicron is one of these mutations and one of it’s known attributes is that it is very infectious. However, mutations are expected to occur and we know the steps to slow the emergence of new variants.
Why is it named Omicron?
Covid-19 has had many variations, all named after letters of the Greek alphabet. The first variant was named Alpha and there have been 6 new identified variants with Omicron being the latest variant. The reason the variants were named after letters in the Greek alphabet was to avoid confusion and stigma.
All of that aside, you’ll probably want to know the answer to the most important question about Omicron:
Are you at risk?
Yes. Even if you are vaccinated and have had your booster shot, you are still at risk of being infected from Omicron. However, that doesn’t mean that your vaccination was for nothing. Vaccines and boosters both reduce your risk of severe illness, hospitalization, and death from Covid-19 and it’s variants.
However, because of the limited number of cases so far, the CDC has not been able to determine just how severe illness from Omicron is. Combined with the fact that Omicron is 2 to 3 times more infectious than the delta variant, it’s best to stay safe and take necessary precautions.
How can you stay informed?
Making sure you have the latest information about the coronavirus and its variants is very important as it allows you to stay up to date and keep yourself safe. Getting your information from unbiased sources such as the CDC and WHO are good ways to stay informed without being at risk of false information.
What can you do to stay safe?
The best thing you can do to stay safe is to continue practicing social distancing, wearing a mask, and generally staying healthy. We also highly encourage you to get your vaccine and booster as although they may not prevent Omicron, it will reduce the severity of the illness and keep you safe.
Along with this, staying away from crowds and keeping track of where you’ve been and who you’ve been in contact with will not only help to keep you safe but those close to you as well.
But, to reiterate, getting your vaccine is the most sure-fire way of keeping yourself protected as it has proven very effective at reducing the severity of symptoms if you happen to catch Omicron. And if you’re already vaccinated, getting your booster is just as important! We recommend that you schedule an appointment to get vaccinated or get your booster as soon as possible as the Covid cases in the US are picking back up again.
If you have any more questions that weren’t answered here, feel free to call us at (929) 575-5656!
