I am writing this for my family in Miami and also Cayman Islands as well as other travelers including my colleagues who are traveling during this holiday season.
People should be happy that the scientists are churning out answers at such a rapid rate, we should be happy at their diligence rather than being suspicious of them. Since its appearance in South Africa less than a month ago, scientists not only in South Africa (I am impressed with the quality fo their work) and elsewhere are unravelling the deadly secrets of this variant .
Quantitatively, it has lots of mutations, as do most viruses but these mutations translates into certain qualities of the virus which is good to know to avoid it befriending us.
Omicron is multiplying faster than the previous ones, in fact 70 times faster than Delta
So Lots of the Virus particles are around.
Critically where are they doing their multiplications?
A nice study from Hong Kong University HKU helps us .
Bronchus rather than the lung, cough more than Pneumonia!
HKUMed finds Omicron SARS-CoV-2 can infect faster and better than Delta in human bronchus but with less severe infection in lung
So it would be good to have a nice Mask when you are traveling.
What sort of mask?
This is what I would do on my long flights to my destination.
N95 mask approved by the Occupational Safety council fo USA marketed as N95.
You may have KN95 masks. Unfortunately these masks made in China, more than 60% are FAKE. so please avoid KN95
On top of the N95 mask I would wear cloth mask that I like to wear normally. If the trip is longer I might even use a Face Shield.
2. Hand Sanitizer
My thoughts are that Airplanes are very safe. Normally I do not like to socialize on long flights as I enjoy the tranquility and it is a good time to collect your thoughts or read Poetry . I like to enjoy my flights and one of the delicious things I have missed during this Covid Isolation is flights on Qatar Airways.
As an aside, I just remembered that the Indian mystic Sadhguru says he prefers to greet others with a Namastey (both hands folded and brought up to the chest) rather than handshake to lessen the transfer of Karmic load (the karmic memory of the other person). Appropriate for these times!
Enjoy your flights
Be cautious even if you are not flying: Avoid Bars, Churches, Concerts, parties where you do not know the people, indoor restaurants.. so that you do not have to be part of the statistics for the month of January. (covid infection)
Here you are, the real McCoy like the Yanks like to stay.
and being an anthropologist, it is always good to have some extraterrestrial help.
PS. Nothing better than getting your Booster shot of the Vaccine.
A new study by researchers at Imperial College London found no evidence of a difference in severity between the Omicron variant of covid-19 and the Delta variant. The risk of reinfection, however, is 5.4 times higher. Previous infection or a two-dose vaccine regimen offer no more than 20% protection against symptomatic cases of Omicron—but a booster from an mRNA jab can push this figure up to 55-80%. Omicron is quickly supplanting other strains: it now dominates in England, accounting for 54% of cases.
Good Luck dear friends..
