====== The Omicron Hypothesis ======
**The Omicron Hypothesis** is a series of articles at [[:Rounding the Earth]] that broke off from [[Rounding the Earth:The Vaccine Wars]], and includes elements of the following:
  * At least one bioengineered SARS-[[:coronavirus]] was circulating well before cases were noted in the vicinity of the [[:Wuhan Institute of Virology]] in late 2019.
  * Omicron is mostly likely a cousin, not a decendant/variant of [[:SARS-CoV-2]].

The author, [[:Mathew Crawford]] takes these hypotheses as explorations worthy of consideration and exploration, not as established fact. But that is to say that the complete story of SARS-CoV-2 and the pandemic is not yet agreed upon as established fact. Some of the evidence used was developed by [[:The Ethical Skeptical]] and others. [[:Igor Chudov]] also explored Omicron's origins in numerous articles.

  * [[https://roundingtheearth.substack.com/p/the-omicron-hypothesis-part-1?s=w|Part 1]]
  * [[https://roundingtheearth.substack.com/p/the-omicron-hypothesis-part-2|Part 2]]
  * [[https://roundingtheearth.substack.com/p/the-omicron-hypothesis-part-3|Part 3]]
  * [[https://roundingtheearth.substack.com/p/the-omicron-hypothesis-part-4|Part 4]]
  * [[https://roundingtheearth.substack.com/p/the-omicron-hypothesis-part-5-kids|Part 5: Negative VE on Kids in New York]]

===== Summary of Hypotheses Explored =====
A summary of primary open hypotheses explored:
  * **Hypothesis 1: Omicron has been circulating widely for at least several months longer than we are told.**
  * **Hypothesis 2: Omicron was genetically engineered—most likely by somebody in the same working group who engineered an mRNA vaccine to stop SARS-CoV-2.**
  * Hypothesis 3: Omicron did not emerge from the phylogenetic tree whose root is the first-sequenced Wuhan SARS-CoV-2 strain.
  * Hypothesis 4: Omicron is already endemic among a broad array of mammalian species.
  * **Hypothesis 5: A large portion of previously recorded CLI, if not all, were actually cases of omicron infection.**
  * Hypothesis 6: The "Pandemic of the Unvaccinated" story was pure fabrication and there is no need for unsurveilled omicron to fill in the gaps. The CDC data reports are simply fraudulent.
  * Hypothesis 7: The Greatest Crime Hypothesis. Omicron, SARS-CoV-2, and the COVID-19 vaccines were designed together as a toolset for establishing control.
  * Hypothesis 8: To the extent that certain of the Omicron hypotheses (or others) are correct, there is a clear and concerning association with American military readiness.

==== Proximal Origins Hypotheses ====
  * [[https://roundingtheearth.substack.com/p/the-omicron-hypothesis-part-1?s=w|Part 1]] included Published Proximal Origins Hypotheses:
    * **Origins H1**: Omicron spread cryptically, undetected by insufficient surveillance methods. (We will talk abt why those methods might have been insufficient.)
    * **Origins H2**: Omicron could have evolved in an immunocompromised host, chronically infected by weeks or months.
    * **Origins H3**: Omicron could have developed in non-human hosts, then reintroduced to a human who spread it to 24 million people in like 5 weeks.


===== Evidence of Genetic Engineering =====
  * [[https://roundingtheearth.substack.com/p/the-omicron-hypothesis-part-1?s=w|Part 1]]
    * **Hypothesis 2:** Omicron was genetically engineered—most likely by somebody in the same working group who engineered an mRNA vaccine to (supposedly) stop SARS-CoV-2.
    * The SARS-CoV [[:phylogenetic tree]] places omicron variants on a different evolutionary branch than all other SARS-CoV-2 variants.
    * Published Proximal Origins Hypotheses:
      * **Origins H1**: Omicron spread cryptically, undetected by insufficient surveillance methods. (We will talk about why those methods might have been insufficient.)
      * **Origins H2**: Omicron could have evolved in an immunocompromised host, chronically infected by weeks or months.
      * **Origins H3**: Omicron could have developed in non-human hosts, then reintroduced to a human who spread it to 24 million people in like 5 weeks.
  * [[https://igorchudov.substack.com/p/did-ralph-baric-of-unc-design-omicron?s=r|Did Ralph Baric of UNC Design Omicron?]] (by Igor Chudov)

===== Evidence of Earlier Circulation of a SARS-CoV =====

==== Evidence of an Earlier Outbreak ====
  * [[https://roundingtheearth.substack.com/p/the-earlier-lab-leak-hypothesis|The Earlier Lab Leak Hypothesis]]
  * [[https://roundingtheearth.substack.com/p/the-omicron-hypothesis-part-1?s=w|Part 1]]
    * **Hypothesis 1:** Omicron has been circulating widely for at least several months.