Omicron Ante Portas

©ZDF

While in surrounding countries and the US, infections with the Corona Omicron variant reach new records ...

©ZDF

... Germany had decreasing values with the dominant Delta variant …

Where does it build up, the Omicron wave? Where is it building up?
(©Stuttman /BZ)

… but we are waiting for the Omicron wave.

This apocalyptic scenario inspired me to project the present situation in Germany to the Asterix comic. The following text is mainly taken from the English standard introduction and therefore copyrighted by Goscinny and Udzero, the creators of Asterix le Gaulois.

©ZDF

The month is December 2021. Europe is entirely dominated by the Omicron variant.

Well, not entirely … One country of indomitable Germans still holds out against the invader.

Here are some of the German leaders facing the ongoing and assailing pandemic:

Olaf, the red chancellor. He is a shrewd and cunning short politician; all perilous missions and tasks automatically fall to him. Nobody knows where he gets his superhuman confidence from. Is it Karl who administers him fortifying jabs?

Robert, the green vice-chancellor. Not really Olaf's friend. A man commanding a super ministry. But he is always ready to drop everything and go off to ban fossil fuels or save trees.

Karl studied medical druid. He loves cooking but refuses to brew magic potions. He impresses his fellow countrymen/women with lengthy analyses of the Corona situation instead.

Christian, the yellow finance guru. Although he thinks he is a genius, opinion is divided as to his financial competence. So long as he doesn't act, let alone speak, everybody likes him.

Omicron is coming on (©ZDF)

Omicron is apparently a particularly clever Corona variant that has clearly recognized how to conquer the world: It is highly contagious but rarely kills the host, so it can spread further and further. Most people survive - and so does the virus. That's better than Delta, but the next few weeks will be tough.

And indeed, the day before yesterday seemed to be the turning point in Germany. The 7-day Corona incidence per 100,000 people is developing as follows:

27.12.: 222,7
28.12.: 215,6
29.12.: 205,5
30.12.: 207,7
31.12.: 214,9

Here comes Christian Drosten, Germany's Fauci's concluding remark, "It's a good situation when you have a virus that doesn't make you so sick anymore, but it's easily transmissible. So it basically seeks out and finds all the immunity gaps in the population, causing another natural immunity update." How comforting.

I wish you all the best for 2022 and, above all, good health.

May the coming year, despite the approaching Omicron wave, be better than 2021.

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