Despite President Joe Biden misspeaking in an interview with 60 Minutes, the pandemic is not over. In fact, as we enter year four, a new COVID variant has emerged that medical experts say is so contagious that most people who have avoided it so far will be infected and roughly 80% of Americans will be infected again.
"Essentially, everyone in the country is at risk for infection now, even if they're super careful, up to date on vaccines, or have caught it before," says Paula Cannon, a virologist at the University of Southern California. "All the things that have protected you for the past couple of years, I don't think are going to protect you against this new crop of variants."
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, the latest variant, called XBB 1.5 [not to be confused with one of Elon Musk's children], grew exponentially over December, from 1% of cases nationwide to 27% as of January 7, 2023. It's believed that the growth is due to XBB 1.5's apparent ability to bind even more tightly to receptors in the human body than its predecessors. However, the growth is also due in part to our behavior in society with traveling increasing and mitigating measures fleeting.
The new variant is thought to be responsible for the increase in cases in the New England states down to New York, however, the number of severe infections and deaths remains relatively low, despite the high level of infections.
Though it's still early and there are a lot of unknowns regarding XBB 1.5, we do know that every infection makes someone more vulnerable to a bad course of the disease, as well as the lingering, miserable symptoms of "Long COVID."
While the exact effects on XBB 1.5 from the vaccine and subsequent boosters is still unknown, medical experts urge those who have not been vaccinated to do so as soon as possible as it will help to lessen the effects if you do contract COVID.
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