Omicron is not an illness!

[CommonRoom]

People on MN are claiming they have omicron, or their DH/DCs have omicron or asking if someone else has omicron. Omicron is not a virus. The virus is covid! Omicron is a variant of covid. All virus have variants. Flu has new ones all the time, but we don't use the variant name, we still call it flu.

Also, LFTs and PCRs are tests to detect COVID. In the results you will only find out if you have COVID or not. The omicron variant is something that labs and researchers can detect and they are compiling statistics about its spread but these results are not being given to individuals as a matter of course. Simple common sense would tell you this. The LFTs and PCRs that people are doing regularly are COVID tests and the results are positive/negative for COVID. There is no mention in these results of omicron.

Me too.

Omicron is not a virus. The virus is covid!

No, the virus is SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2). Covid-19 is how the illness it causes was classified by the World Health Organization: basically coronavirus disease 2019.

You have said people are lying if they say they have Omicron, people are being told by Test and Trace if they have Omicron so stop calling people liars.

You don't need to tell us you're an expert, that one's fairly obvious.

Blimey, pedantic much?! Who cares what people want to call it – it doesn't change the fact it's crap having it.

The requirement to isolate if you’re a close contact of a case of omicron has not been dropped in all parts of the UK, so it does still make a difference to many people.

I was told some misleading news from 119, they told me that lateral flows tell you if you have 'any' virus but PCRs confirm if its COVID. I am sure thats not right, but for 119 to have told me that was a bit worrying if she made it up as she said it as if it was fact, maybe it is. My reason for calling was because when I went to register my PCR it told me it was already registered and I was concerened why that would be, she told me that she hadnt heard of that happening before and suggested I get another one, luckily I re read the email and it said, there is no need to register and its already pre-registered, but thats a whole other thread.

I thought with your pcr test it tells you if you have the omicron variant? Correct me if I am wrong?

No, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test detects a common fragment of the SARS-Cov-2 virus RNA. Determining which variant of the virus is present in the sample requires genetic sequencing, which is a different process from PCR.

@CommonRoom

I am telling people things that don't know. Three people on MN today have said that they have omicron.

How could you think they don't know? If it was 2 months ago they'd never even have heard of omicron but this has been going 2 years now. Of course everyone knows

but we don't use the variant name, we still call it flu

Swine flu, bird flu, Spanish flu, Hong Kong flu...

We've also been referring to Delta as ... well, Delta.

Anyway, just wait a month and Omicron will be the dominant variant of Covid almost everywhere in the world and then you can stop feeling so annoyed when people say they have Omicron.

@Summerfun54321

Nothing quite says “Merry Christmas” like debating infectious virus nomenclature.

This made me laugh so hard, thank you.

I was making a point (not preaching) about language rather than viruses. Very few people know for sure if they have omicron. I live in London and even knowing that 80% of infections are omicron I would not say I had omicron unless test and trace specifically told me that.

To be fair, your title is "Omicron is not an illness" not "people don't know if they have omicron varient or not" (and here you are using omicron as a name for ... an illness.)

While we're talking about covid, does anyone else have a weird remembrance of events? Like a Mandela effect? I could have sworn that we had heard of Covid in Wuhan around Christmas 2019, I have a very vivid memory of it, but yet the official reports state first case was 31st December 2019.

We're going to move this over to the Coronavirus topic now.

@AlbertBridge

I keep calling it "Omnicrom." Mistakenly. But I can't seem to stop.

You're not alone. I've seen it several times tonight alone 😆. I only get it right myself because I speak basic Greek and know the alphabet

@UnmentionedElephantDildo

The virus is covid!

No it isn't - the virus is SARS-COV2

Covid-19 is the name of the disease, named by WHO, meaning 'coronavirus disease'
www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/technical-guidance/naming-the-coronavirus-disease-(covid-2019)-and-the-virus-that-causes-it

Omicron is a variant of covid. All virus have variants

No it's the given name for the B.1.1.529 variant of SARS-COV2

Yep!

@CommonRoom

People on MN are claiming they have omicron, or their DH/DCs have omicron or asking if someone else has omicron. Omicron is not a virus. The virus is covid! Omicron is a variant of covid. All virus have variants. Flu has new ones all the time, but we don't use the variant name, we still call it flu.

Also, LFTs and PCRs are tests to detect COVID. In the results you will only find out if you have COVID or not. The omicron variant is something that labs and researchers can detect and they are compiling statistics about its spread but these results are not being given to individuals as a matter of course. Simple common sense would tell you this. The LFTs and PCRs that people are doing regularly are COVID tests and the results are positive/negative for COVID. There is no mention in these results of omicron.

Get over yourself love ffs.

@AnotherOneWithNoGoodName

While we're talking about covid, does anyone else have a weird remembrance of events? Like a Mandela effect? I could have sworn that we had heard of Covid in Wuhan around Christmas 2019, I have a very vivid memory of it, but yet the official reports state first case was 31st December 2019.

It was mentioned in the DM...I remember it was before Christmas 2019, I used to read the DM website on my lunch breaks. Soon stopped that haha.

@LynetteScavo
Everyone I know that's unvaccinated and has/had covid has felt perfectly fine too including myself...

Well I suppose people may use “Omnicrom” as a synonym for Covid even though we do actually know it’s just a variant….besides we’re all so so fed up of COVID now, Omnicrom has a fresher ring to it 🤓

Are you you ok OP?

@NoNotHimTheOtherOne

I thought with your pcr test it tells you if you have the omicron variant? Correct me if I am wrong?

No, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test detects a common fragment of the SARS-Cov-2 virus RNA. Determining which variant of the virus is present in the sample requires genetic sequencing, which is a different process from PCR.

PCRs are being used to detect Omicron, via SGTF (S gene target failure).

Sorry sorry O-M-I-C-R-O-M 🤦🏻‍♀️

@CommonRoom

My point is that the regular LFT and PCR results do not tell you what variant you have, so if you say you have omicron you are not being truthful. You can't possibly know if it's omicron. Indeed it's likely that a certain proportion of people will already be infected with the new variant, whatever that might be, or might be called. Pi, querty, radox...

or, y'know, another letter from the Ancient Greek Alphabet.

Let's hope it's not Omega, now that sounds sinister.

@SuffolkDreams

Sorry sorry O-M-I-C-R-O-M 🤦🏻‍♀️

Nearly should be n not m 🤣

You look like a right plonker, gave me a giggle

I work in a Covid-related job.

A couple of weeks ago we could tell people that they had Omicron as the labs were reporting it as such. We were told that every PCR noted if it was Omicron as the 'S' gene generally drops out which shows that it's a variant different to Delta and these were then further tested to show if they were the Omicron variant.

We no longer differentiate to patients as it doesn't make any difference to the advice we give.