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[–]Maniak🥃😾[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Based on current reports, Omicron appears to be associated with three broad characteristics: Vaccine escape (resistance), increased viral replication and reduced disease. In contrast, the preceding dominant variant (Delta) is also associated with vaccine escape, increased viral replication, and increased disease severity compared to preceding dominant circulating variants.

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And then this new press release from the University of Hong Kong arrived today, showing that Omicron replicates more highly in conducting airway cells (bronchus), and less in lung cells. I think that the paper above provides with some important clues that could help us make sense out of this puzzle.

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This is why this new finding from a team at Hong Kong University is so significant. Because it indicates that what may be most important about Omicron may not be the ability to evade vaccine-induced immunity, but that it has shifted its preferred tissue target for infection and replication to the upper airway instead of deep lung. That could explain why it is more infectious, replicates to higher levels, and yet causes less severe disease.