Judd Karn
Online Editor

The new Omicron variant of Covid-19 was first spotted in South Africa and is now reported to be in every continent.

     Let me make this clear, the World Health Organization (WHO) currently does not have enough data in order to conclude if the new variant is more viral or more symptomatic than the Delta variant but, using the information they have been given currently, the WHO has considered the Omicron variant a Virus of Concern (VOC).

     As of December 2nd, the CDC has reported a case found in California by a passenger who returned from South Africa. It has also been confirmed to be in at least 18 other countries, spanning across every habitable continent. The rapid spread of the virus could be explained by the mutations to the protein spike, which is the part of the virus focused on infecting and the main part of the virus that the vaccine targets.

     These 30 or more protein spike mutations, compared to 7 in the Delta variant (aljazeera), could be detrimental to the effectiveness of the vaccine; the validity of this hypothesis is currently being researched in South Africa (Nature.com). These researchers, along with the many others, will be focusing on said vaccine effectiveness as well as its degree of symptoms and its rate at which it can spread.
    This could also be a problem for people that believe in the controversial stance that the antibodies they build up from recovering from Covid-19 make them immune, with these new alterations to the virus people who already recovered from the virus are substantially likely to become reinfected (WHO.int).

     Since South Africa’s discovery of the new variant, the economy has been in a limbo waiting for the research results, with the S & P 500 taking a ~3% dip in the span of 5 days. As of November 28th 56 countries are implementing travel restrictions, whether it be extended quarantine or barring anyone who has been to an infected country. (Reuters)
    However, the WHO is criticizing travel bans, with Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stating, “Blanket travel bans will not prevent the international spread of omicron, and they place a heavy burden on lives and livelihoods,” (Washington Post). Other experts have also said that it would be too late to put these restrictions as they likely have already spread across the globe.

     As for what the leaders of the world have to say, the same they’ve said before, the Biden administration advised to get the vaccine, and if available, get the booster shot (whitehouse.gov). The administration has also called for a meeting with the World Trade Organization to get rid of the intellectual property of COVID vaccines so every manufacturer possible can produce these vaccines.
    The good news is that both Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech are mRNA vaccines, which allow easy restructuring and modifying. This means Pfizer can adapt their vaccine to be as effective as possible against a variant within 6 weeks and ship that out within 3 months, even if the structure of the spike protein, which handles infections, is completely altered (Pfizer spokeswoman Jerica Pitts).
    Currently the world just has to wait to know just how potent this new variant is (as of writing this). As for my advice, it is the same as every leader and every scientist, get your vaccine, get your booster shot if possible. “Even if there is reduction in efficacy, it is still better to get the vaccine because it will save your life,” (Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead for covid-19 at the WHO)   

Vanessa Mendoza
Staff Writer

The pandemic is haunting the global supply chain and shoppers.

     With the peak of the holiday shopping season coming up, buyers are encountering empty store shelves, rising prices and shipping delays that seem to stretch into oblivion. Container ships are clogging ports, awaiting cargo or unable to get past the gridlock to unload their goods. Some factories have even gone out of business, lacking raw materials and hands to run machines.

     A growing number of shipments are stuck at sea because of supply chain issues, leading to growing concern that holiday shipments may not arrive in time. Container ships are crowding ports from New York to Los Angeles, where 250,000 containers are floating off the coast waiting to be unloaded. 

     Holiday shoppers are beginning to worry because a third of the more than 5,700 people recently surveyed by Oracle, which provides cloud services for many large retailers such as Prada and Office Depot, worry that they won’t get everything on their wish lists and if they do, they will end up paying more than intended. 

     The coronavirus pandemic has been wreaking havoc on global supply chains since it began nearly two years ago, causing suppliers and retailers many challenges along the way with trying to keep the virus out of offices and factories, navigating shutdowns and business restrictions. 

     Larger companies, including Walmart, have chartered entire ships to deliver goods to less congested ports. The tremendous cost makes it out of reach for small businesses. 

     Then there’s the steady rise of raw materials prices and skyrocketing shipping costs. The nation is also experiencing difficulties such as being short on truck drivers and warehouse workers. 

     “There’s no room to put this cargo. Our docks are full. People need to come and pick up their cargo,” said Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles. “Only half the truck drivers registered to do business here visit us at least once a week. We need more drivers on the job.” 

     Since materials are starting to cost more, buyers are starting to have to pay more. Problems have been compounded by a labor shortage that has intensified in recent months, as more warehouse and retail workers become part of “The Great Resignation”. This is a phenomenon driven by pandemic burnout and reassessment of life and work. 

     According to the Labor Department, data shows that a record 4.3 million Americans quit their jobs in August and big box stores and local retailers are struggling to fill positions and store shelves. 

     Demand is on the rise and retail sales have risen unexpectedly the past few months despite a resurgence in coronavirus cases brought on by the delta variant, which had a big effect on business activity.

     Industry leaders say shoppers should consider getting their holiday gifts early this year as ongoing congestion at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach could impact supply over the next few months. 

     Some people even anticipate the problem will lead to products simply not being available as the holiday shopping season ramps up. In some cases, some shipping delays will likely lead to customers not receiving gifts purchased online until early 2022.

Judd Karn
Online Editor

The 6th largest company in the world, Facebook, announced their new name as Meta in their recent keynote.

     On October 21st of this year, Facebook announced that it would have big plans for the future and would reveal them October 28th, we now know their big plans were to change their name to Meta, but that was not all.

     In the October 28th keynote they changed their parent company’s name from Facebook Inc. to Meta Platforms Inc. (similar to how Google changed their parent company’s name to Alphabet Inc. in 2015) in order to better describe what they want the future of their company to look like. 

     They also introduced to the world their idea of something they call the metaverse, the metaverse would be a virtual universe of endless possibilities. Think virtual reality (VR) but you can do virtually anything in it: you can work, you can play, you can hang out, you can sleep, etc.; the idea is very similar to that of Ready Player One. Meta thinks this will be the future of the internet, the next level of immersion.

     The metaverse is supposed to be accessible by anyone on any device, so you can connect with your phone to someone who’s in a virtual reality world, and Meta is perfectly fit for that with their arsenal of utilities: Oculus is their foothold into virtual reality, Instagram and Facebook are their social media platforms that can integrate into the metaverse, and Messenger & WhatsApp (the most popular messaging service in the world) allow for seamless messaging and calling in and out of the metaverse.

     Meta also believes that the metaverse will be the future of education and learning, putting $150 million into education in the metaverse. Meta is also going to try to build a business infrastructure inside the metaverse, with both digital and physical goods, they believe these digitals goods (outfits, exclusive items, digital property etc.) are going to become important as their physical goods.

     As the metaverse is still decently far from becoming fully fledged, Meta is working on making the rules for privacy and commerce. Basically, Meta wants to be the early bird to the metaverse worm, getting a head start on integrating into the future of the internet and is putting absurd amounts of money into getting closer to the concept of the metaverse.

     Some of their investments can be seen with their virtual reality company, Oculus, Oculus has taken up 75% of the virtual reality market and is continuing to release bleeding-edge technology, releasing new facial tracking technology along with a suite of new technology with their upcoming VR headset. They are doing this so they can slowly slim down the technology until it is able to be packed into the size of normal sunglasses. Meta is also working on using neural signals to allow you to make commands just using your brain and some small hand gestures.

    This does all sound great, but it is also extremely scary, the acceleration at which we are getting to this metaverse we pursue is staggering. With this amount of technology, the biggest companies in the world could have even more of our personal information in their hands. 

     If we don’t have an active privacy policy that actually protects the consumer, the result of the metaverse could be detrimental to society. 

     While there are many concerns about this metaverse, this metaverse is going to be an amazing utility, but like all utilities, we have to use it correctly.