Autumn COVID variants look shockingly similar and powerful for these 2 reasons

Earlier this year, fears of a new “super strain” of Omicron were real—and rising. A researcher in Cyprus identified a COVID-19 variant that had features of both the deadly Delta and the highly transmissible, immune-evasive Omicron variants. “Deltacron,” as the new variant became known, was a bit of a “frankenvirus” that combined the two strains. Deltacron failed to take off, and it soon disappeared. A second Delta-Omicron hybrid later arose then also subsided. But the phenomenon that caused it is likely to come into play this fall. Scientists expect a sizable wave of COVID cases October through January, fueled by multiple Omicron spinoffs that look increasingly alike—both to each other and to older versions of the scourge.