Covid was just starting to get better, especially in North Carolina. Our rates were the lowest they’ve ever been and more and more people were starting to become comfortable with covid. However, recently trending news is most likely going to change our current situation.

First identified in Botswana and South Africa, scientists have found the new variant for the coronavirus and it’s a lot worse than we thought. According to the New York Times, “The World Health Organization has called Omicron a “variant of concern” and on Monday warned that the global risks posed by it were “very high,” despite what officials described as a multitude of uncertainties. Cases have been identified in more than 30 countries so far, including Britain, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands.” The scary part is that this was only one and a half weeks after the variant was discovered, meaning that it is spreading at a rapid rate. The even scarier part is that the omicron variant has officially spread to the US.

The good news however, is that we are taking this variant very seriously and doing a good job of restricting the spread. Moreover, people who are vaccinated have a significantly less chance of contracting the disease and will most likely heal if the disease was contracted. According to the New York times, “The individual, who was fully vaccinated, had mild symptoms that were improving, health officials said.” However, it is still too early to get comfortable with this variant as it is very new and scientists haven’t fully researched it. In fact, it has caused so much panic in countries such as Japan, Morocco, and Israel, that they have all banned international travel to and from South Africa.

All in all, the new omicron variant is something we still do not know much about. We as a world have to do everything in our power to control the spread and hope that this is the last variant that will cause a worldwide pandemic.