27 November—The latest variant of the novel coronavirus affectionately known as COVID-19 has been labeled by the World Health Organization (WHO? you may ask) as the Omicron variant. Last we knew, the Delta variant was making headlines. And still is. So how come the jump in Greek letters from Delta to Omicron?

First, just to refresh your memory, here’s the Greek alphabet, each letter written out in English, followed by Greek upper case and lower case letters. Don’t worry about pronunciation or alternate letter forms:

Alpha Α α

Beta Β β

Gamma Γ γ

Delta Δ δ

Epsilon Ε ε

Zeta Ζ ζ

Eta Η η

Theta Θ θ

Iota Ι ι

Kappa Κ κ

Lambda Λ λ

Mu Μ μ

Nu Ν ν

Xi Ξ ξ

Omicron Ο ο

Pi Π π

Rho Ρ ρ

Sigma Σ σ

Tau Τ τ

Upsilon Υ υ

Phi Φ φ

Chi Χ χ

Psi Ψ ψ

Omega Ω ω

With the Greek alphabet out of the way, what happened to all the variants before we even got to Delta? Well, first, WHO assigns Greek letters to the variants to make them easier for laymen to understand. So WHO says, anyway.

Then the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tell us—but the CDC tells us—that there are four classes of SARS-CoV-2 variants, essentially telling us how much we should worry: Variant Being Monitored (VBM); Variant of Interest (VOI); Variant of Concern (VOC); and Variant of High Consequence (VOHC).

Among those variants are many of the Greek letters. WHO chooses not to use Nu and Xi, Nu because it could be mistaken for New as in Novel, Xi because it’s the Chinese dictator’s name, and he certainly can’t be associated with the Chinese virus. No politics involved in viral nomenclature, obviously.

As things stand now, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Epsilon, Eta, Iota, Kappa, Mu, and Zeta are VBMs; Theta and Lambda are VOIs (but not according to CDC); Delta is a VOC; and no VOHCs have been identified—in the United States, anyway. Yet. Evidently, we’re not supposed to know about variants that are simply being monitored until they become of concern. Or worse.

So what about Omicron? WHO said it’s a VOC? WHO did. And that drove financial markets down all over the world. Great for short sellers. So it seems that only letters at the end of the alphabet are waiting for coronavirus assignment. And since viruses continuously evolve, we may be seeing an Omega variant before too long. Something else to look forward to . . .