Testing, vaccines, sequencing: experts call for multi-pronged approach to Omicron

As new cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant are uncovered across the globe and threaten to spread in America, US officials are reacting by urging vaccinations and boosters instead of imposing restrictions which have increasingly provoked political fights.

But the US should quickly invest in other tools as well, experts said, including testing, genomic sequencing and surveillance, better communication, and a strong focus on global vaccine equity to prevent the emergence of new variants.

All of that would prepare America better to deal with a variant that many experts suspect is probably already inside the country, even if undetected so far.

A large number of mutations in Omicron may make this variant more transmissible than others and better at evading immune responses. Early evidence suggests the variant more easily reinfects those who have survived Covid previously.

If the new variant is more transmissible or able to evade the vaccines, vaccinations and booster doses will be important to strengthen immune responses.

PCR tests are very effective at identifying a key feature of this variant, known as an S-gene dropout, before full genomic sequencing takes place. And making all types of testing, including rapid tests at home, easy and accessible would help curtail the spread of Omicron and other variants, including the current Delta wave.

Sequencing positive tests is also important to understand which variants are circulating. The US lags behind many countries in genomic sequencing, and there are vast differences between states.

Although there are more questions than answers about Omicron, other precautions that have helped with previous variants will still help here: masking, ventilating indoor spaces, distancing, avoiding large gatherings.

The US was already enduring a new wave in cases driven by the Delta variant, and officials were opposed to national public restrictions, even though most Americans support mask and vaccine mandates for public places, according to two polls from August.

Local health measures have become markedly more difficult to implement in many places. More than half of US states have seen their public health powers sharply curtailed during the pandemic, making it harder to respond to new variants than when Covid first emerged.