Scientists are looking at three variables with the new variant — transmissibility, virulence, and immune-evasion. As long as Omicron isn’t strong in all three categories, it can be managed. If it’s virulent and immune-evasive but not very transmissible, it won’t spread much. If it’s transmissible and virulent but not very immune-evasive, vaccination will contain it. If it’s transmissible and immune-evasive but not very virulent, it’ll spread widely but won’t make people severely ill.
The earliest preliminary evidence from South Africa is that Omicron falls into the third category.
