> What would you do now that you’re not doing already?

Well, if you're a policymaker then suspending travel to prevent it from spreading internationally. If it's the worst case (more infectious than delta + immune evading) then buying a little time to adapt vaccines or produce the recently announced antivirals could save a lot of lives.

U.K. put South Africa and other African countries in the red list for example.

We aren’t policy makers, though.

HN regularly discusses topics which primarily have policy implications, and there likely are policy makers who lurk here.

The locations of the spread of this variant might inform whether / when I choose to get a booster (third dose). If it starts spreading in the US, I might get a third dose to be safe. Until then, I'll avoid doing so as I do not want to contribute to domestic vaccine demand (which induces the US to stockpile more doses and export fewer doses to the rest of the world where they're more urgently needed).

I think responses should be local, instead of countries essentially waiting and coordinating themselves in a cascade. If possible new variants should be contained at least until it is clear if they are more dangerous or not. So far china has been able to basically be covid-free by using local strategies, something we havent seen in the west

>So far china has been able to basically be covid-free by using local strategies, something we havent seen in the west

This was effectively the approach New Zealand took but it wasn't sustainable. Maybe it would be more effective when implemented by an authoritarian regime (although difficult to measure given issues with transparency) but even then it won't last. China's going to have to start learning to live with Covid like every other country has had to.

The EU is already acting to stop flights from south africa in an attempt to contain the spread. I think the world is finally adopting the New zealand strategy: local, stringent lockdowns. We are not yet ready to try to "live with covid", because it's too dangerous and we can't treat it "like the flu" until we have widely used effective antivirals.

don't socialize as much. if you have to have an event try to do it outside or ensure certain safety measures. make sure you and people you're hanging out with have their booster shots, etc. There's a lot

Run around screaming, of course!

Have to get rid of the holiday-calories _somehow_.

I have never considered the calorie-burning benefits of screaming while running before, opting for just simple running without any type of noise-making before. Maybe I've been missing out on amazing health benefits this whole time! I think I'll have to try tomorrow.

(/s for those who were doubting)