The science involved in the omicron variant certainly piques more interests as it pokes at curiosity considering the many mutations but outside of that, what exactly is causing omicron to exude a much stronger threat than the delta variant?
When the delta variant first came about, it brought about similar risks to what the market is fearing at the moment - that being a shutdown of global travel and heightened border restrictions, adding to the economic pain of course.
There were also questions surrounding vaccine efficacy too, in case one might forget:
- Israel covid study shows some reason for caution, some reason for optimism
- "Study says" that one shot of J&J vaccine is ineffective against Delta variant
So, what exactly makes this scenario with omicron a different one? Is it because it is a recurring theme that people are now less confident that we'll truly be able to move on from the virus? Perhaps.
But an interesting chart from Bloomberg points out that the media echo chamber sure wasn't as loud when it came to the delta variant as opposed to the stirring coverage on the omicron variant at the moment:
The chart reveals that there are over 36,000 stories involving omicron on 29 November and that is more than double the peak of any news coverage on delta.
At the end of the day, we can only go where the data tells us to go and there is still little information and clarity on that until we get to the coming weeks.
No one can say for sure how severe the threat of omicron really is but the "noise" being put out there certainly will not help in deciphering that answer. However, one thing's for sure, is that we sure as hell cannot predict the future.
