legal analyst and emergency room physician and former commissioner of baltimore city health department. dr. wen, thank you so much for joining us this morning. i want to ask you about the new study that shows the omicron variant carries a stretch of genetic material that looks like it may have come from a distant relative of the common cold. data hasn't been peer reviewed, but researchers say that this indication suggests that omicron may be more transmissible than other variants. what do you make of the data and potentially what it could imply? >> there is still so much that we don't know about omicron. when we look at what's going on in south africa with the very rapid spread of covid-19, they are driven by omicron, it is definitely concerning. it suggests that omicron might outpace delta here in the u.s. and around the world. but we don't know until we see this occurring. the other big thing is the degree of immune escape, meaning