STAT January 26, 2022
In the two months since it first hit the world’s Covid-19 radar, scientists have generated an astonishing amount of information on the Omicron variant. Still, key questions remain about Omicron, as well as about a new subvariant, known as BA.2. Among them: How much more transmissible is BA.2 than its wildly transmissible parent?
Answering questions like these can be challenging, sometimes almost impossible, in many locations because such a large proportion of people has been vaccinated, previously infected, or both. That can make it hard to tease out whether certain outcomes are attributable to changes in the virus versus the result of built-up human immunity. But it turns out there is a place where clear answers to key questions may...