The characteristics of the Omicron variant have some people thinking no matter what they do getting the virus is inevitable.
Even the President’s chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci warned "Omicron will ultimately find just about everybody."
There is some concern the transmissibility of Omicron plus pandemic fatigue is having an undesirable effect, that is just the opposite reaction health officials wanted from their warning.
Food delivery driver Ryan Foster, who had COVID-19 last year, says fight as you might, but you can’t avoid COVID.
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"I think everybody is going to get it," Foster said.
Foster is not alone.
"If you work in a restaurant you are going to get it no matter what. It is not if. It is when," restaurant worker Fran Mentado said.
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That ominous forecast is making some people fear it, but others seek it. Riley St. James said his father did.
"He is vaccinated. He actually got the omicron variant. I don’t know, he just went out and said just bring it on, just bring on the COVID and he got it,” St. James said.
Health experts would agree, planning to get Omicron to gain some immunity or because you’ve simply reached pandemic defeat is not recommended.
"I think we need a huge dose of humbleness," Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Associate Professor Althoff said.
Althoff warns COVID-19 is a still a very serious disease.
"We should all be doing what we can to avoid becoming infected with Omicron. We should all be doing what we can to avoid being part of this transmission link with other people, including our most vulnerable," Althoff said.
For all the talk of COVID inevitability, Foster doesn’t recommend you get the virus in any form.
"I would never, like, try to get sick. The first round I went with coronavirus was pretty bad," Foster said.
For all the debate over the efficacy and long-term effects of the vaccines, Riley St. James is doing a little soul searching.
"I’ve done sketchier things than taking a shot, so it wasn’t that big a deal for me," St. James said.
Before all that time in isolation makes you forget, Fran Mentado has this advice:
"We’re here as a community, we’re not here to be individuals. I personally think you should be safe wherever you go," Mentado said.
