There have been SO many sub-variants of Omicron, but one in particular is making a rise in the US – it’s known as XBB!
To avoid variant fatigue remember that every one we encounter is temporary. It’s sometimes helpful or interesting to know what’s going around, but a lot of the times the variants don’t change how you should live your lives (and what risk mitigations you should employ). So read on out of interest, not panic!
Why talk about this one?
First, as having just recovered from C19 myself, I have been speculating what sub-variant I may have gotten and this may have been it (solely based on proportions in my region at the time of my exposure).
Second (and more importantly), as it’s picking up prevalence it’s relevant to everyone! Unfortunately it seems to have just the right mutations to escape vaccine-immunity pretty significantly (compared to the original strain), and may have some improved cell-receptor binding which could have impacts on transmission or disease severity (a bit too early to tell).
While this isn’t the news we want to hear, there is still reason to believe that vaccination (including with the latest bivalent booster) is beneficial to reduce the risk of severe disease, hospitalization, and chances of long COVID symptoms. Of course more will come on this with time.
Of note, this appears to by the first notable sub-variant that has formed from a recombination event between two sars-cov-2 viruses as opposed to random mutation events.
I would expect a lot of new information to be available in the coming weeks! Keep a look out and I’ll try to keep you updated.