What Omicron Could Teach Us About Predicting Future COVID-19 Variants

The jury’s still out on how dangerous and infectious the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 is. Despite 37 new mutations in the viral spike protein, there are no deaths associated with the variant although it’s spreading rapidly in South Africa.

What Omicron Can Show about COVID Evolution

Viruses mutate, and SARS-CoV-2 and its various variants demonstrate that. HIV, for example, quickly mutates, often resulting in resistance to antiviral drugs. Researchers tracking SARS-CoV-2 evolution are looking for two categories of changes: mutations that make it more transmissible and the virus’s ability to overcome a host’s immune response.