But while we wait for more information—what can do to keep ourselves and each other safe?
Know the symptoms, keep testing
With cold and flu season coming on top of COVID, it’s hard to know what to make of symptoms like a headache or fever. The best thing you can do is test regularly, and avoid crowded situations if you’re feeling under the weather and haven’t tested negative.
Although there are preliminary reports that Omicron might cause slightly different mild symptoms than other lineages, it’s far too soon to say. And if you’re in the US, you’re still far more likely to be infected by the Delta variant. So watch for the basic symptoms:
- Fever or chills
- Cough
- Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
- Fatigue
- Muscle or body aches
- Headache
- New loss of taste or smell
- Sore throat
- Congestion or runny nose
- Nausea or vomiting
- Diarrhea
What test you use depends on what you’re testing for. If you’re just feeling under the weather, or you want to make sure you’re not infectious before going to a family event or other crowded setting, you might consider using a rapid test. They can give false negatives for asymptomatic infections, but are most accurate when you’re symptomatic or infectious, making them useful tools for circumstances where you just need to know if you’ve got a case at the moment. You can buy a take-home kit of two tests for about $25 at many drug stores. ‘
Effectiveness of vaccines
WHO is working with technical partners to understand the potential impact of this variant on our existing countermeasures, including vaccines. Vaccines remain critical to reducing severe disease and death, including against the dominant circulating variant, Delta. Current vaccines remain effective against severe disease and death.
Get vaccinated. The best way to stop viruses from mutating is to slow their spread, and the best way to slow their spread is through vaccination. Even if the omicron variant proves more contagious, scientists are confident the existing vaccines will continue to offer protection against severe illness, hospitalization and death from COVID-19.
And there’s another bright spot: Scientists are learning more about booster shots, and it appears the booster does more than just “top off” your antibody levels. It might even help broaden your defenses in a way that offers protection against omicron and future variants. Learn more about boosters.
So, the message on vaccines is simple: Everyone 5 and older should get vaccinated, and boosters are recommended for everyone 18 years and older. Find a vaccinator near you.
How to protect oneself from Omicron?
According to a report in the Associated Press, individuals are reminded to take measures to reduce their risk of COVID-19, including proven public health and social measures such as wearing well-fitting masks, hand hygiene, physical distancing, improving ventilation of indoor spaces, avoiding crowded spaces, and getting vaccinated, the WHO said in its advisory for the general public after the variant’s discovery.The WHO panel has also said it will continue to evaluate the variant and communicate its new findings to member states and the public as needed.
Finally: Get your flu shot. If omicron does turn out to be a more virulent version of the virus, the “last thing we want is a twindemic — an outbreak of COVID and an outbreak of flu at the same time — both hitting our hospitals simultaneously,”
“I would just say it’s time to redouble your efforts; we’re not out of the woods yet, “I think the emergence of this variant is a sure sign of that, so we just need to keep doing the things that we need to do, which is protecting ourselves and protecting our families [and] those around us.”
Tried-and-true infection control advice holds, experts said.
Wear masks. Wash your hands. Maintain an appropriate physical distance among strangers, especially indoors. And by all means, they say, get vaccinated.
