People who haven't had COVID will likely catch XBB.1.5 – and many will get reinfected, experts say, 2022, USA Today article

I didn't get Covid myself (knocking on wood) but I have caught the flu on January 1st, and it's nasty, I still get fevers and chills. (4 negative home covid tests)

I have worn my cloth mask every time I stepped out of my apartment and only went to the grocery store. The risk factor I see is both the type of mask and using touch screen self-service. I was not vaccinated because I had such a bad reaction with the last Covid Vaccine I got in September (3-4 days of fevers and other symptoms) so I put off the flu vaccine.

Thank you for the warning @Trish and yeah the pandemic is not over.

 

See [Preprint] Enhanced transmissibility of XBB.1.5 is contributed by both strong ACE2 binding and antibody evasion (Cao et al).

 

Is XBB 1.5 more or less severe from the point of view of the person catching it, does anyone know?

 

Prof Iwasaki has expressed concern about the long term effects.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1609928349551403010

https://twitter.com/user/status/1610032727406874627

 

I haven't caught Covid yet. I double mask when out and sit outside if I have a coffee. Always take sanitizer with me.

I'm due for my 5th vaccine on the 14th Jan. I've decided that I will do all my relative visiting (stays) 4 weeks after I am vaccinated for the best protection? My brother caught Covid 3 weeks after he was vaccinated last year and he had hardly any symptoms at all.

 

For perhaps a more balanced view on this paper by two experts, a virologist and an immunologist,
Begins at about 31 minutes in.

Vincent Rancaniello (hosts the blog that David Tuller writes in) is a professor of virology at Columbia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJL6hF28z-I

Here is the link to TWIV podcast Episode 972 with references links. https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/

 

Slightly less excitable article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-64164306

"Prof Barclay said she was not especially concerned about the general UK population because there was "no indication" that XBB.1.5 would "break through" the protection against severe illness provided by vaccines.

But she is worried about the potential effect on the vulnerable, including the immunocompromised, who get less benefit from Covid jabs.

Prof David Heymann from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine acknowledged that there was still a fair amount to learn about this latest variant.

But he said it was unlikely to cause major problems in countries like the UK which have high levels of vaccination and previous infections.

His concern was for countries like China, where there was both low take-up of vaccines and little natural immunity because of prolonged lockdowns."

 

I've been totally unaware of XBB-anything - which in itself is worrying. Has it been mentioned on here previously and I've simply missed it?

 

Comprehensive article from NYTimes on the new variant.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/07/...9DZZ1LbbSrKLT895EikuYEpZ2xcgI4&smid=share-url

 

possibly because the variant originated in the US, and the media and to some extent the government seem more concerned with potential new variants coming from China.
It has been coming up on my news feed for quite a while; its been nicknamed the kraken.

another article in the New Scientist
https://www.newscientist.com/articl...w-so-far-about-the-latest-omicron-subvariant/

 

Eric Topol, of Scripps Institute, San Diego, and Professor of molecular medicine. Today's Washington Post, opinion piece.

About the new variant,

https://wapo.st/3w6Szg9

 

Why the Kraken? I don't like the sound of that ... (read too much John Wyndham in my youth)

 

https://fortune.com/well/2023/01/05...on-covid-name-ryan-gregory-biology-professor/

 

There never really was a kraken, though, Tennyson aside. Bocker thought the xenobathites were probably Venusians, and he was the voice of expositional authority in TKW - like Zellaby in Midwich, or Beadley in Triffids.

 

Random. Since authorities have stopped bothering because they seem to genuinely believe that giving names to things gives them magical powers over the common folk, some rando, a biology professor but still randomly, decided to do it, just started assigning names based on a similar nomenclature as the WHO, but with mythological creatures instead of letters.

And since the entire profession has basically given up and no one else bothers, being the only one giving them names has stuck. It's just a random list and it's actually showing the depth of ridicule people have over giving names to things giving them power. This is where we are thanks to decades of pop psychology pseudoscience creeping everywhere.

 

Enhanced transmissibility, infectivity, and immune resistance of the SARS-CoV-2 omicron XBB.1.5 variant

Enhanced transmissibility, infectivity, and immune resistance of the SARS-CoV-2 omicron XBB.1.5 variant - The Lancet Infectious Diseases