New COVID variant - Mu

JenniferEccles

I am trying to be comforted by an article I read, admittedly some months ago now, which said that as viruses mutate over a period of time, the tendency is for them to weaken and become much less of a threat.

Unfortunately, that's not true:

apnews.com/article/fact-checking-011488089270

I am trying to be comforted by an article I read, admittedly some months ago now, which said that as viruses mutate over a period of time, the tendency is for them to weaken and become much less of a threat.

Not surprising really when we know that a virus will mutate. We may get to Omega and have to start again at A.

There are more than I realised.
I thought there wasn't a sequence but realise now there are more variants so there is a sequence.

AGAA4

There are other variants of concern between Delta and Mu.

yup

Sorry Callistemon crossed post.

There are other variants of concern between Delta and Mu.

In fact, variants have continued to develop and spread since the emergence of delta. The World Health Organization has designated variants Eta, Iota, Kappa, and Lambda “variants of interest” and is tracking 13 additional variants that originated in the U.S., Brazil, the Philippines, Indonesia, Colombia, and other nations.

There are more than I realised.
Harvard Medical School

alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon, zeta, eta, theta, iota, kappa, lambda, mu, nu, xi, omicron, pi, rho, sigma, tau, upsilon, phi, chi, psi, omega.

There doesn't seem to be a sequence.

Aren’t they using the Greek alphabet? Hence “mu”?

Or am I missing a joke

Echo?

I wonder if we will go through the whole alphabet with new variants. What's next after Delta?