The current naming system for COVID variants uses Greek letters. I surely can’t be the only lifelong science fiction buff who thinks that The Omega Variant, when it comes, has a distressingly final ring to it. Just a stray thought prompted by Boris Johnson’s decision to pretend that there isn’t a virus and that even if there is then it’s someone else’s problem.

I did not know about the Sci-Fi book in question, but the earlier movie adaptation of "I Am Legend" did come to mind: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Omega_Man

There are several instances of Omega being used as an apocalyptic symbol. Another one is the bomb that destroys the world in Beneath The Planet of the Apes is called Alpha Omega. I think The Omega Variant has a chilling sound to it. I assume you have seen that the new official response from the Uk Gov is basically to say “ok guys, it’s all up to you now, watch how you go. You can all do whatever you want. We won’t be doing anything else.” Their own estimates see the cases and deaths rising to previously unseen levels in August.Essentially they are just saying “not our problem, please go right ahead and die”.

I guess Boris the Mad has a point. Many major problems would be solved or eased by greatly reducing the human population. Sang-froid, I know, but previous epidemics endangered human survival; now humans themselves are the plague.

I might understand - abhorrent as it is - someone intentionally trying to reduce the world population but that’s not what Boris is doing. He is just washing his hands of it. He is tired of dealing with it, worried that it will make him even more unpopular and utterly useless at everything. He is so desperate to be loved that he is willing to gamble the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. I saw a report from a virologist that allowing the total free movement of a partially vaccinated population was exactly what he would do if he wanted to experiment with evolving a virus resistant to the vaccine.
The whole thing is an SEP - a someone else’s problem - for Boris. The policy is sheer insanity.

Good lord. Just read yesterday's Guardian article "Global experts urge Boris Johnson to delay ‘dangerous’ Covid reopening." What's the strategy here? Wait until hospitals are beyond capacity, then presto: another complete shutdown?

It's far more dangerous than that - if it did lead to a vaccine resistant strain Boris could end up as the man who destroyed the world. I almost wrote "Boris could go down in history" but I'm not sure there would be any history left to go down in.

Ah, well, the U.S. isn't much better. I have a friend (well educated, liberal politics) who is planning to go to the England in September, if "they will let her in." She has been vaccinated, but she does have a chronic disease (renal). I cannot believe she really still plans to go with all that is going on over there. I realize that we all want to travel again, but traveling to the UK at this point, with a pre-existing condition, seems a bit reckless to me. Maybe I am just overly cautious.

I am with you on this.I think your friend ought to reconsider. I should have been leaving China this year but will be signing a new contract the moment it's offered. I am not even close to convinced that it will be possible to return safely this time NEXT year.