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A new season of COVID is about to start.
Recent data and news reports hail the arrival of yet another seasonal peak of COVID-19 infections in the Western hemisphere. It coincides with the dominance of a new viral variant of interest, XBB. This change in patterns prompted various reactions, some thoughtful, some knee-yerk.
What do we know?
The number of SARS-CoV-2-positive persons is higher than last week and the week before. So is the number of people who are so sick they visit a doctor. By contrast, the number of people requiring intensive medical care has not increased. These statements are strictly factual only for the State of North Carolina, but other states in the US and countries in Europe experience broadly similar patterns.
The increase in cases coincides with sublineages of Omicron, termed XBB, accounting for more and more cases. It will likely take over and displace all prior variants. The myriad other sublineages of Omicron (BA.1/BA.2/BA.2.75/BA.4/BA.5/BL.1) are fading into the past.
Existing antiviral medications are as effective as they always have been, and we have plenty to go around. Supportive care protocols have been optimized and are better than they ever were. People with compromised lung or immune function are at higher risk for severe disease than healthy young people as they allways have been. Masks (the N95 kind)…
