Omicron is considered a milder coronavirus, but scientists aren’t so sure

For more than two years, Cathy Baron and Sara Alicia Costa managed to duck the coronavirus. But despite their being fully vaccinated and boosted, the omicron variant finally caught them.

Baron is an actress and dance instructor who lives in Santa Monica. Costa is an architect in Austin, Texas. Both are 40 and healthy. But the two friends saw two very different sides of the variant they expected to be gentler on its victims than earlier strains.

For Costa, the omicron variant lived up to its reputation for mildness, causing headaches and “something like a crummy cold” for a couple of days. She was visiting Baron and surfing in Santa Monica a week after testing positive.

Baron’s illness was deeply chastening. She was flattened for several days with a high fever and debilitating