Why a highly mutated coronavirus variant has scientists on alert

TL;DR is that the answer to the question is, "because that's their job". And, you know, I'm very glad we have people whose job it is to do this, and I hope it's happening also for influenza and RSV and monkeypox and lots of other viruses. But unless you're just into virology, there's not much news here. From the article:

“I don’t think anybody needs to be alarmed by this,” stresses Bloom. “The most likely scenario is that this variant fizzles out, and in a month, nobody other than people like me even remember that it existed.”

The long tail of alarmist COVID coverage is ... long. Note that while the article is fairly tempered, the title uses the words "highly" and "alert" intentionally. It's almost as if several journalism sites are still fully trying to sell fear, uncertainty, and doubt.

BA.2.86 suggests that a floating point Co(vid)-Processor BA.2.87 is just around the corner.

Why? Easy. We're a few months from an election year.