I don't know exact science but Omicron is the furthest from any other variant so far. Thing is that how omicron came to be is up for discussion, but the most enticing theory is that it crossed from humans to rats back to humans, so if we're already getting infected from animal repositories, it seems to me like we already fucked up good, seems a bit too late to control spread to avoid new variants as it's already spreading uncontrollably in rats.
The zoonotic nature of it is super concerning, especially given how many species it now infects. According to the CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/animals.html
Companion animals, including pet cats, dogs, and ferrets.
Animals in zoos and sanctuaries, including several types of big cats, otters, non-human primates, a binturong, a coatimundi, a fishing cat, and hyenas.
Mink on mink farms.
Wild white-tailed deer in several U.S. states.
That's such a broad spectrum of species and interactions with them. Coatimundi for example are the raccoons of Central America and throw their shit at you while primates are bush meat for impoverished populations. Rats and mice coming inside for the winter and filling our grain silos, a plague in Australia right now, while the deer that aren't consumed by prion diseases are the subsistence hunting food for a good chunk of North America. If we end up getting zoonotic COVID waves in the way we get bird/swine flu, big nope.
I don't know exact science but Omicron is the furthest from any other variant so far. Thing is that how omicron came to be is up for discussion, but the most enticing theory is that it crossed from humans to rats back to humans, so if we're already getting infected from animal repositories, it seems to me like we already fucked up good, seems a bit too late to control spread to avoid new variants as it's already spreading uncontrollably in rats.
The zoonotic nature of it is super concerning, especially given how many species it now infects. According to the CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/animals.html
Companion animals, including pet cats, dogs, and ferrets.
Animals in zoos and sanctuaries, including several types of big cats, otters, non-human primates, a binturong, a coatimundi, a fishing cat, and hyenas.
Mink on mink farms.
Wild white-tailed deer in several U.S. states.
That's such a broad spectrum of species and interactions with them. Coatimundi for example are the raccoons of Central America and throw their shit at you while primates are bush meat for impoverished populations. Rats and mice coming inside for the winter and filling our grain silos, a plague in Australia right now, while the deer that aren't consumed by prion diseases are the subsistence hunting food for a good chunk of North America. If we end up getting zoonotic COVID waves in the way we get bird/swine flu, big nope.