New info is preliminary, but seems to have caused an increase in hospitalizations and deaths in southern France. :fran
The question with every new variant is still "Will it be contagious enough to out-compete Omicron?" and my layperson's guess with this one is "likely not", just as the more-deadly Lambda variant from last year was largely out-competed by Delta.
Scientific paper about the new variant: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.12.24.21268174v1?fbclid=IwAR2_nQz4CYuCxUP_wFVMcvFmyU5Cp_57akROq5aqnuOGvGhG09aGnmPjxcw
Edit: Nitter link
I wonder if there's gonna come a point where they don't need to outcompete watch other. I mean, it's not as if we're using a variety of different vaccines with differing methods and resiliency while all the while not being enough to create herd immunity. 🤷♂️
That's what happened with the flu, and why flu vaccines can be hit or miss — they usually cover 3-4 different strains
Hooray!