The new XBB.1.5 COVID strain continues to concern experts. After the information that we shared on the final day of 2022 that the strain is able to better avoid immunity granted by vaccinations, scientists have something concerning to say about its transmissibility.
A new article from CNN tells the world about the transmissibility of the XBB.1.5 COVID strain. According to the source, the new COVID infections in the US had an incredible increase of up to 41% from 4% only over the month of December.
Good morning
Over the holidays, you may have heard about Omicron XBB.1.5
It went from 4% of sequences to 40% in just a few weeks
That’s a stunning increase
So what does it mean? Will it cause a wave of serious illness and death?
Here's what we know, don't know
🧵
— Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (@AshishKJha46) January 4, 2023
Van Kerkhove, the technical lead of the WHO when it comes to Covid-19, said that XBB.1.5, “is the most transmissible form of Omicron to date.”
There is still hope
Even though the new COVID variant is so prevalent, there’s no use in becoming too worried. Here’s what else Kerkhove had to say, as CNN also quotes:
We do expect further waves of infection around the world, but that doesn’t have to translate into further waves of death because our countermeasures continue to work.
As of December 2021, there were several pharmaceutical companies that had successfully developed and produced COVID-19 vaccines that had received authorization for use or were undergoing advanced clinical trials. These included Pfizer and BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, and others. These vaccines had undergone rigorous testing and evaluation to ensure their safety and efficacy and were being made available to help control the spread of the virus and protect individuals from becoming infected.
It is difficult to determine which strain of COVID-19 is the most dangerous, as the severity of the illness can vary widely among individuals and can depend on a number of factors such as age, underlying health conditions, and the level of community transmission.
That being said, some COVID-19 variants have been associated with higher rates of transmission and may be more virulent than others. For example, the B.1.1.7 variant, which was first identified in the United Kingdom and has since spread to many other countries, is believed to be more infectious than previous versions of the virus. This has contributed to a surge in COVID-19 cases in some areas.
