It never ends
New Covid strain is the most transmissible yet, WHO says
The coronavirus Omicron strain XBB.1.5, which has become the dominant strain in the U.S. in just a matter of weeks, could drive a new wave of cases, a World Health Organization official told reporters Wednesday.
“We are concerned about its growth advantage, in particular in some countries in Europe and the Northeast part of the United States, where XBB.1.5 has rapidly replaced other circulating sub-variants,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s Covid-19 technical lead.
Still, health officials are not sure whether that means more people will go to the hospital or die, because of immunity built up by vaccination and prior infection.
What we know: Public health officials have detected the strain in 29 countries, but it could be circulating in many more, Van Kerkhove said.
In the U.S., the sub-variant went from being present in 4 percent of sequenced cases to 40 percent in just a few weeks, White House Covid-19 Response Coordinator Ashish Jha tweeted Wednesday.
But the WHO doesn’t yet know whether XBB.1.5 is more severe than other circulating sub-variants.
You’d think they’d have some idea about the severity after a few weeks if it’s hitting so many people, right?
What’s next: Jha warned that Americans’ immunity against XBB.1.5 “is probably not great” if a prior infection was before July or if they have not received the bivalent shot that became available in September.
He advised people to get their bivalent booster, to test before attending large gatherings or before meeting with elderly or immunocompromised people and to wear a high-quality mask in crowded indoor spaces.
Yes, yes, get the booster, which doesn’t seem to stop people from getting COVID nor from getting a severe case.
Is it normal for a naturally developing virus to have so many strains/variants in such a short time? That it keeps changing?
Teach
The vax will not “stop” covid strains. It will greatly reduce the risk of both dying and being hospitalized. Like in the past people with weakened immune systems are most at risk.
People who were not vaccinated have been 6 times more likely to die than the vaccinated.
Also masks don’t “stop” transmission. They do reduce the risk of transmission just as covering up when coughing or sneezing.
Also do not attempt an internal disinfection by drinking bleach or shining a UV light up your butt
We have been told that Omicron and the variants of it about which we have information generally produces milder symptoms, which begs the question: if the Omicron variant produces milder symptoms anyway, how can we know that the statement that the vaccines make COVID-19 less serious is true?
Why would you even suggest stuff that stupid in a serious way?
From the cited article:
Given that Mrs Pico (fully vaccinated, + 2 regular boosters, + the specific Omicron booster) and I (fully vaccinated, + 2 regular boosters) contracted COVID-19 in mid-December, we should be good!
No one really knows how many cases of COVID, or of what variants they were, have occurred. With so many people who are testing using at-home tests, and the at-home tests do not tell people what variant they have if they test positive, the official numbers are just bovine feces.
More, since those people who do test positive at home, but never seek medical attention beyond over-the-counter medications, aren’t counted, no one knows what percentage of SARS-CoV-2 infections present serious illness.
There were some at-home tests which used your smartphone to determine the test result, and I at least wondered if those tests were somehow programmed to forward test results to the feds, but the at-home tests Mrs Pico and I used in December did not use our phones.
Of course, Alexa could have been listening, so . . . .
It depends on to which official numbers one is referring.
A random sample of virus samples from patients are sequenced for variants weekly. If 42,000 out of 100,000 samples are XBB.1.5 it is assumed that ~ 42% are infected with XBB.1.5. It’s possible that selection bias takes place if, for example, XBB.1.5 patients are sicker and more likely to be tested in a clinic, hospital or doctor’s office. It’s also possible the variant is outcompeting the other variants.
The booster doesn’t stop everyone from getting Covid and does appear to reduce the mortality from Covid.
Mr Teach is slyly suggesting that the SARS-CoV-2 virus is not naturally occurring! As pointed out many times, (+)ssRNA viruses, such as the Covid virus have unstable genomes. This, when coupled with high infectivity (high affinity to ACE2 receptor), high host survival and dense populations all contributes to a high mutation rate.
How so? Realize that not all patients’ viral genetic material is sequenced for the variants of SARS-CoV-2. This means that the population data – Covid deaths and prevalence of XBB.1.5 – is used to indirectly estimate the danger of a variant. Mr Dana asks excellent questions that frame how difficult it can be to judge. Is an apparent decrease in severity based on the variant itself or in changes in the host population – vaccinated and boosted. And most cases today are not reported. Most positives from home tests who never go to the doctor or hospital are not recorded. That said, hospitalization and deaths are reliable markers. US Deaths from Covid continue to stay steady in the 200-400 per day. IF the death rate were to jump significantly correlated with a significant jump in XBB.1.5 prevalence it would suggest that either the virus was more lethal OR that the “hidden” increase in cases (which are not tracked) led to more deaths but not necessarily a greater rate.