The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

Your questions about the omicron variant, answered

The Post’s health and science reporters answered reader questions on Wednesday

Commuters on a London Underground train on Tuesday. (Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg)

There’s a new variant of the coronavirus, known as omicron, and health officials, vaccine makers and others are worried that its high number of mutations could make it more transmissible and adept at evading the body’s immune defenses.

On Tuesday, the chief executive of the coronavirus vaccine maker Moderna predicted that existing vaccines might be much less effective against the omicron variant, spooking financial markets.

Although the omicron variant’s mutations have concerned scientists, who are quickly trying to learn all they can, much remains unknown. “It’s a complete black box,” one virologist told The Post.

What questions do you have? Three health and science reporters — Akilah Johnson, Fenit Nirappil and Joel Achenbach — and William Booth, the London bureau chief for The Post, answered your questions on Wednesday. All of them have been covering the coronavirus pandemic in different capacities since its earliest days.

Here are some of the questions they’ve answered so far:

Read the full transcript below.

Looking for more? Read some of our recent coverage:

Sign up for our Coronavirus Updates newsletter to get the most important pandemic developments in your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. All stories in the newsletter are free to access.

Teddy Amenabar, an editor on The Post’s audience team, produced this Q&A.

Coronavirus: What you need to know

End of the public health emergency: The Biden administration ended the public health emergency for the coronavirus pandemic on May 11, just days after WHO said it would no longer classify the coronavirus pandemic as a public health emergency. Here’s what the end of the covid public health emergency means for you.

Tracking covid cases, deaths: Covid-19 was the fourth leading cause of death in the United States last year with covid deaths dropping 47 percent between 2021 and 2022. See the latest covid numbers in the U.S. and across the world.

The latest on coronavirus boosters: The FDA cleared the way for people who are at least 65 or immune-compromised to receive a second updated booster shot for the coronavirus. Here’s who should get the second covid booster and when.

New covid variant: A new coronavirus subvariant, XBB. 1.16, has been designated as a “variant under monitoring” by the World Health Organization. The latest omicron offshoot is particularly prevalent in India. Here’s what you need to know about Arcturus.

Would we shut down again? What will the United States do the next time a deadly virus comes knocking on the door?

For the latest news, sign up for our free newsletter.

Loading...