Even though we’re only a few hours away from passing into 2023, the COVID pandemic still doesn’t want to go away for good. That’s because it’s constantly evolving, trying to bypass the world’s efforts to kill it, just as about any virus does.
A new COVID variant known as XBB.1.5 is the star of the show today, as it’s circulating and even dominating in the Northeast part of the USA. It’s more contagious and even more resistant against immunity caused by vaccinations and previous illnesses, according to The Washington Post.
D.C., Maryland, and Virginia are teeming with the new XBB.1.5 COVID variant
The new XBB.1.5 COVID variant has become dominant in American states such as DC, Maryland, and Virginia. About half of the new coronavirus infections from these regions consist of the new COVID strain.
Neil J. Sehgal, who’s an assistant professor of health policy and management at the University of Maryland School of Public Health, relies on the bivalent booster that was updated recently as a way to tackle the new COVID variant.
Sehgal explained as The Washington Post quotes:
All signs right now point to significant cross-protection from the bivalent booster,
Not perfect but still quite good and certainly better than not being boosted at all … Yet we’ve still seen pitifully low uptake of the bivalent booster.
As of December 2021, there are several companies that have developed COVID-19 vaccines that have been authorized for use or are in late-stage clinical trials: Pfizer and BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, and more.
The USA remains the hardest-hit country by the still ongoing COVID pandemic. Recently, it passed the terrifying milestone of over 100 million infections. That practically means that almost one in three people from the US have been infected with the coronavirus since the first case was reported in the country back in early 2020.
