Image: “Black and white poster of a Red Cross nurse with a gauze mask over her nose and mouth. Text next to the image provides public health information “To prevent influenza!” Photograph by Paul Thompson (1878 – 1940). Published in New Haven, Conn. : Illustrated Current News, 1918. In Wikimedia Commons … https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Illustrated_Current_News-1918-Thompson,_Paul.png … public domain

Image: “Black and white poster of a Red Cross nurse with a gauze mask over her nose and mouth. Text next to the image provides public health information “To prevent influenza!” Photograph by Paul Thompson (1878 – 1940). Published in New Haven, Conn. : Illustrated Current News, 1918. In Wikimedia Commons … https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Illustrated_Current_News-1918-Thompson,_Paul.png … public domain

Dear Ones,

I have a few thoughts on the Omicron variant of COVID-19. I feel it may have reached a turning point for the better, and may have mutated to a benign, very infectious form that will act as a natural ‘vaccine’ to prevent the pandemic from causing lots of deaths worldwide.

I recall my mother talking to me about the Spanish flu pandemic that resulted in the death of about one in three members of her family just about the time that she was conceived. I recall the awe with which she spoke of the destructive power of the Spanish flu back then.

That spurred me on to read about the Spanish flu in Wikipedia, especially in these COVID times, as I thought there might be insights with regard to the deadly Spanish influenza epidemic that might prove helpful with regard to the course of the COVID pandemic.

What I found out is that the Spanish flu became less deadly with time. After a few years it became more tame, more toned down. Lots of people were infected, but not so many passed on because of it anymore. It almost seemed to me that the flu viruses themselves, though they be but humble tiny beings … termed ‘non-living’ by scientists, but perhaps more lively than scientists suppose … had decided they were not getting anywhere with being so deadly.

It was as if they said to each other: Look, dudes, this high mortality rate amongst humans is not helpful. Let’s create a more copacetic variant. And voila! Omicron was born.

There are two types of events that fortify our immune systems against COVID. One is infection by COVID and successful recovery. The other is exposure to one of the vaccines.

Having had both the virus and the vaccine, I feel that my immune system is doubly fortified against COVID. That is because both events … infection by the virus and successful recovery … and exposure to the vaccine … have built up the antibodies in my body.

You may recall that the COVID vaccines were developed for the original SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Yet they offer immunity for the highly infectious Delta variant. In the same way I feel that exposure to one live COVID strain offers immunity to other COVID strains.

It could well be that the Omicron variant, being very infectious, will become the variant that infects most people first. Then the immune systems of the infected people will develop antibodies to the Omicron variant.

Because Omicron appears to have a low mortality rate, these people will survive, and not die of the pandemic. Then when they are exposed to the more fatal strains of COVID-19, their immune systems will be in an excellent position to fight off the more fatal strains, as they will already be equipped to fight a similar pathogen.

If Omicron proves to be a benign, highly infectious COVID variant, then it will act as a ‘natural vaccine’ to build up the antibodies for people worldwide. When these people are exposed to the more lethal variants, they will be in a good position to survive infection.

I may prove wrong. Time will tell. But the Pragmatic Prophet offers this hope to her readers: It could well be that …. two years into the COVID pandemic … the mortality rate curve is approaching that for the Spanish flu pandemic that struck the United States the year of my mother’s conception in her mother’s womb. The month of December 2021 may prove to be the turning point for the better, worldwide.