Maybe, but.........

In Asia, including China, many people where wearing face masks in cities because of high air pollution, long before Covid 19 started.
Yet this widespread use of face masks did not prevent this pandemic, which even started there.

Omicron...
Strange....an anagram for this is 'Moronic'...
Are we being taken for a ride?
Could there be a hidden political agenda here or is this 'fresh meat' for a new conspiracy theory?

Do debate! and whilst doing so, you are saving the planet by not burning more hydrocarbons!

1. Omicron is a Greek letter, just like the other variants.

2. We are usually being taken for a ride in one way or another...but not about the existence of this variant. It exists.

3. There are certainly people with hidden (or overt) political agendas which they are eagerly attaching to the new variant as we speak. There will certainly be new conspiracy theories ad nauseam. However, the most likely, efficient, and believable explanation is exactly as originally offered, i.e., a new variant of unknown origin with multiple DNA changes and unknown effects.

I'd wonder: What is *your* agenda in asking these questions? And what are *your* answers?

Mark

To the OP asking the questions. Google gave me the following:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/28/w...ame-covid.html

Try it some time?

__________________

TBS.com

I'm waiting to see it being referred to as the OMG version. It probably is already in some nether regions of social media with sketchy knowledge of the Greek alphabet. I must admit I was expecting the Epsilon variant to appear next, but things change fast in the world of viruses so maybe I missed that - plus the other nine variants between Delta and Omicron. We'd better fix it soon as there's only another eight to go before we hit Omega, and we all know what happens when that strain turns up.

Agendas come in all shapes and sizes, whether they're political ones lambasting the government for its shortcomings or climate change luddites or current vaccine issues. It's interesting to see someone try to pick apart an anti vax agenda and look at what's going on 'under the bonnet / hood' This was an article I came across a few days ago:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...ovid-pandemic/

The essence of what it's about is neatly summed up in the subtitle:

"Vaccine refusal by parents is not about a lack of education, but amassing social status"

In it there's a mention of "secret vaccination sites" where people can go and get vaccinated without anyone in their anti vax peer group knowing. I've not heard of any moonlight vaccination sites in the local woods over here but, then again, I don't suppose I would. Everyone (almost everyone to be accurate) I know has put their petty differences to one side and had the jabs. The only exception is a journalist for a religious newspaper. He obviously sees pandemic salvation coming from a different direction - and who knows, he may be right, but we're avoiding him for the time being just in case.

Easy one.Just keeping new posts coming in; there has been a dearth of them for a long time!

@ Chris
It is all rhetoric but thank you for introducing me to google!

I am beyond amazed how much has been written about a virus on a motorcycle web site. Consider this: when AIDS/HIV first came along, there was a lot of fear and changes in social/sexual behavior. I had a nephew who died from it in the early 80's after a short illness. Today there are ads on TV selling meds to allow you to live long and prosper even with the virus in your body. With enough vaccinations, covid will be like polio, isolated in a few places.

I'm not - it's a site for international motorcycle touring, and the virus is getting in the way of all of us doing that.

__________________
Bruce Clarke - 2020 Yamaha XV250

I understand that, what amazes me is the number of posts and how long they are. Yes, we are limited in what we can do and where we can go--for now. It is not the end of the world, unless we get sick and croak of course. Get vaxed, travel as far as you can in the current situation, and plan for the future, which is what a lot of the posts on this site are about. Cool, chill, take a ride.