-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA512 i recently returned from holiday air travel. the flights out were fine; the flights back were debacles! every terminal, every plane had sick people. sneezing. coughing. young kids too small for masks, crying, screaming, coughing, etc. a gentleman across from me in Charlotte sneezed a dozen times... - --- i wore an N-95, but still got symptoms 14 hrs after first leg. my wife got her symptoms 14 hrs after picking me up. all symptoms mild, but loss of smell was pronounced! we both got moderna boosters 3 weeks ago. ( still waiting on PCR, few days yet. may never know? ) - --- characteristics of the new Omicron variant: - - mild infection, does not cause severe disease (yet?) [ https://www.statnews.com/2021/11/30/doctors-hope-omicron-causes-milder-cases... ] - - evades vaccines? [ https://www.newsweek.com/us-detects-first-case-omicron-variant-that-may-evad... ] - - more transmissible than Delta? [ https://www.sciencealert.com/is-omicron-more-contagious-than-delta-here-s-wh... ] if one were to design a milder COVID, intended to function as an inoculation against severe strains of COVID, it would look an awful lot like Omicron! ... :P perhaps humans just got lucky, but next pandemic a single nation may take initiative and attempt to protect the rest. ... just beware the unintended consequences! *grin* fun times, best regards, mostly recovered coderman -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- iNUEAREKAH0WIQRBwSuMMH1+IZiqV4FlqEfnwrk4DAUCYaffN18UgAAAAAAuAChp c3N1ZXItZnByQG5vdGF0aW9ucy5vcGVucGdwLmZpZnRoaG9yc2VtYW4ubmV0NDFD MTJCOEMzMDdEN0UyMTk4QUE1NzgxNjVBODQ3RTdDMkI5MzgwQwAKCRBlqEfnwrk4 DHeFAP0bc93WE348AQ/ZFlvl4bKLRPcmULpvlzyj+IFSCT+7WgD/XYJ05TD4EbZH oggcZZ9XGhbx30AVcvBJfl+R/t0nNu8= =0ENN -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----