What we know about the XBB.1.5 COVID variant sweeping the Northeast | The Hill

The XBB.1.5 omicron subvariant is raising concerns of a potential surge in COVID-19 cases as it sweeps across the Northeast.

Officials have warned in recent weeks that the strain is highly transmissible, can more easily evade the immunity offered by vaccines or prior infections than past variants and is likely to drive cases up around the country.

The subvariant has already rapidly spread in the Northeast, where it is currently estimated to be causing about 72 percent of infections.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicated last week that XBB.1.5 was the most prevalent subvariant in the U.S. as a whole, accounting for 40.5 percent of cases in the country. However, this information is subject to change as more data is collected from states, and XBB.1.5 s share of U.S. cases has fallen to an estimated 27.6 percent as of Friday.

But while another omicron subvariant, BQ.1.1, is still dominant in the country beyond the Northeast, XBB.1.5 has also reached all other regions of the U.S., and officials predict it will continue to spread. Due to its recent ascent, data on XBB.1.5 is limited, but health officials have disclosed some key insights into the strain, as well as what questions remain unanswered.

via thehill.com

So I went in to see my estimable doctor Friday for my $%^&*%$# knee. While there I got my flu shot. He told me that all the cool kids in the La Jolla Medical Industrial Complex (my wording) are saying that by next year, we’ll all be getting an annual “Flu-rona” vaccine for both the latest flu and the latest corona virus: Gifts that keep on giving.

Lots of news on how the ‘rona vaccine is dangerous, not really a vaccine, etc., etc. Here’s my take — if you’re a young, athletic male-type person, otherwise healthy, maybe even a professional sportsperson, I would not be getting jabbed. The risk of dropping dead from the vax is evidently, based my extremely casual perusal of my news feed, greater than the risk of being laid low by that pesky lab escapee. In either event quite small. But as you get older, the risks change, and by the time you get to be old and decrepit, as some of us are, you might as well get the best, such as it is, the Science has to offer. They’re wishing they had our vaccines in the PRC about now, I can tell ya. But ask your doctor. You should not be getting your medical advice from soon to be retired law professors.