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https://edition.cnn.com/2022/10/20/health/variants-covid-winter-surge/index.html>
"CNN — A flurry of new Covid-19 variants appears to be gaining traction
globally, raising fears of a winter surge.
In the United States, these are BQ.1, BQ.1.1, BF.7, BA.4.6, BA.2.75 and
BA.2.75.2. In other countries, the recombinant variant XBB has been rising
quickly and appears to be fueling a new wave of cases in Singapore. Cases are
also rising in Europe and the UK, where these variants have taken hold.
Dr. Peter Hotez, who co-directs the Center for Vaccine Development at Texas
Children’s Hospital, says he thinks of them collectively as the Scrabble
variants because they use letters that get high scores in the board game like
Q, X and B.
As the US moves into the fall, Covid-19 cases are dropping. Normally, that
would be a reason for hope that the nation could escape the surges of the past
two pandemic winters. But virus experts fear that the downward trend may soon
reverse itself, thanks to this gaggle of new variants.
Lumped together, the variants accounted for almost 1 in 3 new Covid-19
infections nationwide last week, according to the latest estimates from the US
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The updated bivalent booster vaccines and antiviral drugs like Paxlovid are
expected to continue to be protective against severe outcomes from Covid-19
infections caused by the new variants.
But the new variants are particularly devastating for millions of Americans who
have weakened immune systems. New research suggests that changes in these
variants make them impervious to the last lab-created antibodies available to
help treat and prevent severe cases of Covid-19, and the US government has run
out of money to incentivize the creation of new ones."
Via Doug Senko.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
