Yesterday when I woke up I learnt about the new COVID-19 variant, then called B.1.1.529, which immediately had me worried. Today I woke up and it had officially been upgraded to a variant of concern and named the Omicron variant.
For the duration of the pandemic I have told my family and friends that letting the virus run rampant through a partially vaccinated population almost guarantees the evolution of a vaccine-resistant variant.
And here we might just be.
I’m not an immunologist, virologist or vaccinologist, but knowing what I know about cell biology means that I understand how truly dangerous this variant may be.
I’m trying not to worry about things that are outside my control.
And I’m hoping it won’t be as bad as it looks.
But it looks pretty bad, and it may already be in Australia.
Today I went to the shops to pick out a new outfit for my upcoming final thesis review seminar, however the shops were busy because of the Black Friday sales, and my anxiety simply couldn’t handle it. I ended up leaving.
I was already feeling stressed about writing my thesis, and organising my final thesis review seminar has been difficult (finding a time that works for six senior academics this close to Christmas is quite the challenge). Having a new and potentially more contagious, more deadly, vaccine-resistant COVID-19 variant on the horizon is causing my stress levels to overflow.
I’m going to try my best to focus on the things that I can control: educating my family and friends; getting myself vaccine-boosted; continuing to wear a mask, socially distance, and practice good hygiene; practice self-care; and try not to doom-scroll all day every day.
Photo by Anastasia Taioglou on Unsplash
