omicron coronavirus variant, but scientists already know enough to prescribe a rational response to the threat. As the world waits for data, there’s plenty of useful knowledge that comes from evolutionary biology.
Revamping vaccine formulas and updating travel restrictions to slow down and catch omicron infections make sense, even understanding that the new variant might well fizzle out.
Failing to prepare for a worst-case scenario would be a potentially disastrous mistake. That worst-case would require the coincidence of three simultaneous evolutionary advances.
The variant would have to be transmissible enough to defeat the now-dominant delta strain and thereby spread throughout the human population.