> explaining that the virus is inactive once it passes through the gastrointestinal tract.

How do they know that only the gastrointestinal tract is infected in this person?

Because, presumably, it otherwise would have spread and could not have been isolated in this way.

The variant doesn't seem to be spreading in the community.

> While the researchers believe there is no threat to public health

How can they possibly know this? This person has a novel COVID strain that could be more or less virulent--we just have no way of knowing.

If it's really been 2 years and it hasn't affected anyone else yet, I would have thought it's probably not that dangerous.

This is addressed in the twitter thread. It is believed that a gastrointestinal infection of COVID simply doesn't shed virus particles, except through excrement, and the GI tract does a good job of denaturing the viral proteins so that they are mostly inactive. That is probably why it hasn't spread. Yet.

But that says nothing about how infectious this strain would be, or how virulent if it were to be contracted as a respiratory infection. This could be the new Delta/Omicron, or worse. We could be one explosive diarrhea away from a new pandemic.

Emphasis on "would be".

Currently it's not. So, currently no problem. If it changes, then it could be, yes. Which is true for any virus. If they change, they could potentially harm lots of people. That's life, and that's why we have the CDC and WHO etc. who keep an eye on things and try to react once that's needed. (Which lots of conspiracy theorists don't like, but that's life too.)

(Also, please avoid inhaling somebody else's feces.)

Thank you. I found the thread and title very… cryptic.