Omicron
Oh. My. Cron.
It’s Omicron
A variant of concern
From Africa
Only
My
Immunity
Can
Repel
Omicron
Now
Omicron is the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet, which has 24 letters in total. We went from Delta (4th letter i.e. Alpha Beta Gamma Delta) and straight to Omicron. Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Theta, Iota, Kappa, Lambda and Mu would have been next after Delta, but were not variants of concern. Nu was the next option, but it was thought to be confusing as it sounds like new. Next up was Xi (pronounced ksi) which is the name of the Chinese president (Xi Jinping), and was thought to be politically inflammatory. So they named the next one, Omicron*.
*the next letters in the Greek alphabet after Omicron are Pi, Rho, Sigma, Tau, Upsilon, Phi, Chi, Ssi, Omega.
Somewhere along our witty social media, it was announced that it was actually “Omicron B” and it was an anagram of No Crimbo 🙁
With lateral flow tests that we can do at home, we try to keep ourselves and our contacts safe. As predicted, numbers escalate exponentially. But we don’t lock down. Many of us cut back on social events and meetings, preferring to “stay safe” in the run up to the festivities. We get to Christmas. And although it’s strange and limited, for most of us it’s an improvement on last year.
Omicron Christmas
To tune of Happy Christmas (War is over) – J Lennon
So this is Christmas
And what have we done
Another new variant
Of Covid has come
Omicron Christmas
And a Covid New Year
We’ve been vaccinated
So try not to fear
And so Merry Christmas
We’ll all do our best
Wear masks and bring hand gel
– And a negative test
Wave
Not a wave hello
Or goodbye
Not a wave of hair
Not a waiver
Not ripples on the shore
Wave is virus rolling onward
Through the air
Through families
Sweeping over lives
Spreading out in all directions
When will we wave goodbye to Covid?
19/01/2022 Due to “Significant reductions in cases, less likelihood of hospitalisation, and the success of the vaccination programme”, it is announced that we can start – or restart – the plan to reduce restrictions.
Fingers crossed
Now we can go back to work
Hospitality can hope to thrive
Students can breathe
What a time to be alive
What an era to live through
What tales they will recall
How glad we will be
To see the end of it all
Fingers crossed.