HOUSTON — The world is dealing with COVID-19 fatigue, but doctors are pleading for people to pay attention to the new omicron variant and to take steps to keep each other safe.
"It's demoralizing to have to go through this again," said Dr. Thomas Giordano, Chief of Infectious Diseases at Baylor College of Medicine.
Omicron threatens to undo months of progress in the pandemic.
"There's no reason to panic," Giordano said. "I don't think we have enough information to know if this is going to be serious."
Nations implemented travel restrictions after omicron surfaced in South Africa. It's already spread to 16 other countries.
"We don't know that it's here yet, but it very well could be," Giordano said.
That's why Giordano said people need to take omicron seriously and get their booster.
"I don't think we can just ignore this," Giordano said. "We can't ignore delta right now. And we'll see what omicron does. Burying your head in the sand isn't going to make them go away."
Omicron has more mutations than any other variant to date. That has scientists racing to nail down how transmissible it is and how the vaccines will stack up against it. Those answers will take weeks. What's certain now, the unvaccinated are most at risk.
"If you are not vaccinated, now is the time to go get vaccinated and get your children vaccinated," President Joe Biden said.
Biden is right, said Giordano.
"Our way out of this is vaccination," Giordano said. "Vaccinating the U.S. population is not enough. We have to vaccinate the world."
Experts said it's probably a good idea to pull out your mask again and to definitely wear them when indoors and in large crowds. It's the smart thing to do until scientists learn more about what omicron will do.