Ba.2 Omicron Symptoms: What To Look Out For As Variant Spreads In The US

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1. Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been a lot of conversations about what is called “the new normal”. A concept that refers to our life and our day-to-day life under these new conditions created by covid. However, here’s the strange part: even though we are going through this worrying crisis, some days do seem to be normal. This suggests that people establish a new sense of “new normal” while and despite feeling stressed and worried. A finding that runs counter to previous research suggests that recovery can begin once stressors stop. Although covid still exists and there are many other variants, it is interesting to see how in many parts of the world less and less importance or significance is given to this issue. For a long time, we were surrounded by news about how many daily cases of covid there were, how many deaths, and how many variants, among other things. We had so much information about this that there came a point where the subject lost much relevance and became a normal part of our lives. Also, when we saw extremely viral variants such as the Omicron variant, many people preferred to continue living without fear of this new problem. I find it amazing how human beings are able to adapt to all kinds of situations. Clearly, some situations require more time to adapt than others. Although Covid generated a lot of fear in the beginning, today we can see how this has changed. Hearing someone sneezing or coughing was synonymous with having covid 19, this generated a lot of fear. However, nowadays these symptoms are less and less associated with this virus and are seen more as what they really are: symptoms of the flu. I think that covid will end up becoming just that, the flu, not only because of the symptoms it produces but also because of the social “value” that has been given to it.

2. Once we think we are finally getting past covid and back to our normal lives there always seems like a new variant popping up. The BA.2 Omicron variant has now become the dominant strain of Covid 19 across the country. This variant makes up 72% of all cases in America. The main symptoms for the BA.2 Omicron variant are fevers, chills, shortness of breath, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion, nausea, or diarrhea. If you have any of these symptoms just do the right thing by staying home and getting tested. You never know who you can spread it to. Some people can have serious health issues and be more susceptible to it. I believe that the only way to get rid of Covid 19 completely is to get the vaccine and quarantine yourself if you come down with it. The places where this variant is spread the highest is in the Northeast with 84% of the cases. I would think that the Northeast has the most cases since it is one of the most populated areas compared to the south where it is less populated. This disease spreads fast as we see. There have also been reports that this variant can be associated with GI. A significant proportion of people reported that they have had GI symptoms while testing positive for Covid 19. We are still very much in a pandemic and still need to live our lives under caution even though we are in a much better place now then when we started.

3. This article is about a new variant of COVID-19, which is making up more than 70% of current covid cases in the United States. It is most prevalent in the northeast, and the symptoms are very similar to other variants of COVID. The CDC has stated that this variant is harder to test for because often people that have symptoms are testing negative. These false positives or people that have COVID testing negative is nothing new, but now it is more likely. On the bright side, it seems like the pandemic restrictions and lockdowns are coming to an end for the most part. Other countries in Europe do not make travelers take COVID tests before entering the country, and now the United States removed the federal mask mandate for ubers and air travel. Public transportation is also now not regulated by the federal government, which is how I believe it should be. I know professor Shannon requires masks in class and definitely prefers them, but I think if people want to wear one they can, and if they do not they live with the risk of their decision. The main reason for this is that the mask mandate had to come to an end at some point, which it did on April 18th, 2022, but ripping the bandaid off seemed to be the issue. This was supposed to happen two weeks ago, but it was delayed until yesterday. I do not understand what the difference is between the two weeks, it is not like COVID disappeared or cases even decreased, the statistics are very similar to what they have been for the last few months. Waiting two more weeks just did not make sense to me, in my mind I am thinking, “what is the difference if they stop requiring masks two weeks ago or now?” People will be wearing masks for the foreseeable future and there is nothing wrong with that, they are minimizing their risk of exposure. As someone who just took a 7 and a half hour flight just hours before this decision, I am glad that the next one I take will be able to be like pre pandemic travel.

4. I am beyond exhausted with the continued Covid-19 cases. Every year there seems to be a new variant that runs rampant around the globe. According to the CDC, there are a total of 10 sub-variants of the Covid-19 virus. It has gotten to the point where there is no other option but to let natural selection take its course and hope for herd immunity. The fatigue that I and many others are I have become numb to the Covid news. The news fatigue I and many others are experiencing is a bit morbid. Any news that comes out of Covid does little to surprise me. It is unfortunate I see covid news this way, but I am just so sick and tired of the disease. One cannot keep worrying about something that has been in their life for so long. For 3 years this virus has been tormenting me and others. Society just wants to go back to normal again. To do this many ignore Covid-19-related news to have a, out of sight out of mind perspective on the ordeal. There seems to be a lockdown occurring around the world at least once every quarter. Right now it is the second-biggest economy in China. China’s lockdowns are threatening the global economy again. I find these lockdowns to be a bit extreme given the fact that the vaccines have proven to be effective in negating Covid-19 symptoms. This goes to show humans being forced into quarantine still do not have the cooperation to come together to fight a common enemy. There is no point in lockdowns as it only causes blows to the economy. Those who will protect themselves will protect themselves and those who choose not to protect themselves will continue to do so. At this point, herd immunity is the only solution to this virus. Let natural selection run its course and put Covid-19 into the history textbooks. As far as the gastrointestinal issue, the Fast Company brought up the gastrointestinal issue people have after they get Covid, I am starting to believe that has somewhat of a correlation. Ever since I first got Covid I have been experiencing GI issues since then. It also seems I am not alone in the matter. Every other person I talk to has some sort of issue with their stomach after Covid. Coincidence? I think not.

5. Covid-19 started at the end of 2019 in December and as of May 2022, I think we can all agree that we are tired of it. This virus that cause a global pandemic caused people to quaratine for periods of months which caused business to close down as they went bankrupt. Covid was also the cause of thousands of people loosing their lives and getting severely ill. When the vaccine came out, covid cases has gone down tremendously and covid was slowly dying down. According to the CDC, there are a total of 10 sub-variants of the Covid-19 virus. As of late we now found a new variant called Omicron. As stated in the article nowcast data from the CDC as of April 22, 2022 this delta makes up 72 % of all cases in the country. That is a very significant number and proves how serious this can be. With covid slowing down, this variant came and boosted it up again. I believe during this time where omicron was at its peak, people should be able to learn from past experiences with covid and assure to follow guidlines to make sure you and others are safe. This will include staying sanatized, wearing a mask, getting vaccinated, and going outside the house as little as possible. I believe this went away fast because government and people learned and were more prepare. Omricron contains the same synthoms as covid which is fever, body aches, cough, headache, etc. An interesting stat from the article tat caught my attention being from New Jersey was when it stated, states such as New York and Maine. BA.2 makes up over 84% of cases. This is a scary thought because omricon is highly contagious and there are high chances of getting it.
   An interesting quote from the article was While a significant proportion of people reporting GI symptoms tested positive, we also saw an increase in the proportion of people with these symptoms who tested negative,” what this quote proves it that omicron is hard to track when getting tested. This is dangerous because people may not know they have it and will still not quarantine and be out being able to give it to others. So i think people should be careful and always wear a mask during those times. As of May 2022 omicron cases has gone down significantly which allows states to drop mask madidates. The article was a great read because it was able to provide a lot of great stats that proved the significance of the virus and how it may affect us .

6. The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the lives of individuals throughout the globe. COVID-19 is a disease that was uncovered in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. It is very contagious and most often causes severe respiratory symptoms.
   The CDC estimates that the virus entered the United States in late January or early February 2020 and commenced to establish low-level community spread before being widely noticed. Since that time, the United States has experienced widespread infections, with over 80.2 million reported cases and over 984,000 deaths reported as of April 13, 2022.
   The most common form of the virus as of recently is the BA.2 omicron subvariant. As of April 2, 2022, the BA.2 variant makes up 72.2% of all cases in the country. One of the major potential solutions is the discovered vaccines. There are three vaccines available for use in the United States, and they are all effective in preventing infection. The most common are Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson. Getting the vaccine is a safer and more reliable way to build protection against COVID-19. It helps protect you against serious illness, hospitalization, and death by creating an antibody response. The vaccine is deemed safe since scientists conducted clinical trials with thousands of adults and children and found no serious concerns. As mask mandates are being removed, we have to be attentive to our surroundings and make wise decisions.

7. At this point covid-19 cases on and up and down spectrum in which seems monthly is not much of a surprise to me. Covid-19 has hit it’s 2 anniversary of it’s discovery just over 4 months ago and casualties resulted in the virus over taking the spanish flu of 1918. But the virus has been going around for much longer than 2 years and this new variant is only one of the few that we have ended up catching. This new variant just like first goes by the scientific name of BA.2 according to the CDC has of April 22, 2022, the BA.2 variant makes up 72.2% of all cases in the country. These cases include 84% in the Northeast with New York and Maine being the hottest spots. The symptoms are close if not identical to the first variant that came out and is easily being mistaken for a cold and type of illness.

8. As a student who has spent an exhausting 2 years at home because of the Covid 19 pandemic and is just getting back in to the real world, it is safe to say that I somewhat saw some of this coming, and also didn’t. Now obviously i didn’t predict Omicron coming on to the scene, but the pandemic seemed to have been “too short”. What I mean by this is that we had vaccines coming out within the first year of the virus which was completely and unnecessarily too fast. With viruses, such as the Spanish flu or even the bubonic plague, there is never truly an answer as to if it will ever go away, which is what terrifies the world like COVID is doing today. Sure we have vaccines that will help with the original first COVID strand, but with Omicron it is like the pandemic is happening all over again which requires new studies/testing. With that in mind, this would mean yet another vaccination shot that everyone would be required to have. What is also interesting is that the symptoms are almost the exact same as a common cold which also has the same symptoms as the original COVID strand. With this in mind, it is extremely hard to tell whether you have COVID or Omicron. Another factor that bothers me about Omicron is that the article states that Omicron and COVID 19 cases are prone to spread faster in the Northeast. The hotspots include both New York (New York City included) and Maine in which BA.2 is spreading and claiming these areas to make up nearly 84 percent of cases. I was surprised to see that it wasn’t anywhere down south such as Florida because they do almost nothing to try and prevent cases, such as not wearing masks or social distancing. Needless to say, the pandemic is not over, and there will never ever be a “set time” that it will just magically go away. The only thing we can do as humans is to be vaccinated and to always keep in mind that this is a deadly virus that has claimed the lives of thousands, and that we must continue to look out for each other.

9. Covid-19 has been around for more than two years, and it changed everything. It changed the way we work, shop, and even socialize. At the start, many people believed that these changes were temporary. That once the virus would be held under control, we would be able to return to our normal lives. That was not the case. New types of the virus kept spreading rapidly and uncontrollably. It seemed like we would fight the virus for at least a couple of years, and even in 2022 we are still trying to control it. Since we spent so much time in conflict with the virus, these ‘temporary changes’ ended up becoming a part of our new norms. With the change it also brought in debates about whether these new norms will be beneficial or harmful to way we behave. There are certainly some good changes that the pandemic brought, but there are also changes in which people hate.
   One of the first things that the pandemic changed was the way we worked. There was a sudden shift from meeting in-person to meeting online. Those who had to leave home for work still had to go, but those who didn’t go in spent their time at home and being remote while working. People would use apps like Zoom and Microsoft teams to collaborate or connect. Their schedule would become more flexible and they were able to spend more time with their families and doing activities. This new flexibility allowed workers to get their job done, while still having plenty of time to do other things. Another change was the way we shop. Less individuals are shopping in person, and this ultimately changed online retail. More revenue would be earned online for companies and many consumers started to believe that shopping online is more convenient and time consuming. Lastly, another change caused by the pandemic was the way we socialize. As I mentioned earlier, people had to interact digitally, rather than in person. There were many predictions that this will ultimately affect our social skills, and it was true. I know countless people who said that they are anxious to be in public because they are scared to get infected. There were also those who did not want to go back to school or work because they would rather be at home. Mostly everyone had to readjust to being back in person.
   These changes did create arguments about whether these changes were good or bad. I personally think some of them are good, but we can’t continue to keep some. For instance, I am quite happy with how the new norm revolves around work flexibility, but I am not too fond of working remotely. I would much rather be in person because the experience isn’t nearly the same. I would much rather be running around in the office, than staying at home. The change in shopping is not merely as big as a debate, but it has cause major damage to retail stores. Many malls are closing simply because there is less presence of shoppers. It is a shame because I do love going to malls to shop. These are some examples of how social norms and changing. It is up to us to decide whether these changes will influence society.