He who must not be named. It appears the W.H.O. has skipped the next Greek letter after Nu to name the new variant. The next letter is Xi. The concern is that W.H.O. is again avoiding any discomfort for the Chinese government. So they named it Omicron...
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...The new variant was expected to be Nu but any additional variant would then be Xi, which happens to be the name of the Chinese leader...
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...It is not clear if there is another reason for the decision to skip over Nu and Xi, but W.H.O.'s history with the investigation into the origins of the pandemic has fueled speculation as to a political motive.
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...It is a demonstration of the continuing credibility problems for the organization after its original inquiry. Even the new panel has been criticized for its imbalance and the background of its members.
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...For that reason, W.H.O. should respond to this latest controversy. It is obviously symbolic (literally) but the concern is that it continues to show a controlling sensitivity for not offending the government. It should be easy to deny or confirm.
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...Some are now quoting W.H.O. as saying that Nu was avoided because it sounds like "new" while Xi was skipped to avoid "stigmatizing a region." Xi has not yet attained region status.
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...I would still prefer the Voldemort strain, but that could raise copyright issues and the only people that the W.H.O. should avoid angering beyond Xi are those lawyers at Warner Bros.
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I’m sorry. I see an accidental Futurama and I take the opportunity.
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I think that in Chinese, “xi” means “stuff,” as in the essence. Of life. How ironic.
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<whispers>
They're all the Xi variant. twitter.com/AstorAaron/sta…
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