The highly transmissible XBB.1.5 omicron subvariant rose to the highest of all COVID-19 strains circulating within the U.S. this week, in response to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
XBB.1.5 was answerable for 43% of latest coronavirus cases this week, in response to CDC estimates. It’s greater than some other omicron subvariant that the agency tracks, and the speed is up from 30% of infections last week. It’s the one omicron subvariant that’s increasing in prevalence, setting it as much as dominate the variant scene in the approaching weeks. The subvariant is already answerable for the overwhelming majority of latest cases within the Northeast.
The World Health Organization this week warned that XBB.1.5 could fuel a worldwide escalation in COVID-19 infections.
“Based on its genetic characteristics and early growth rate estimates, XBB.1.5 may contribute to increases in case incidence globally,” the organization said in its assessment of the strain. Nevertheless it noted that growth advantage estimates are only from the U.S., so it rated its confidence within the assessment as “low.”
But COVID-19 cases within the U.S. are declining barely, though experts consider the numbers to be widely underestimated as many depend on at-home COVID-19 tests that don’t get reported to health departments.
Coronavirus-related deaths, nevertheless, jumped this week to a level not seen since August. The CDC reported over 3,900 COVID-19 deaths within the U.S. this week.
COVID-19 transmission is taken into account “high” across many of the U.S., in response to CDC data. But under the agency’s “community level” guidance, which diverges from transmission levels, Americans in just below 14% of counties must be masking while indoors.
WHO, then again, amended its masking guidance this week to recommend that everybody wear masks in crowded spaces “no matter the local epidemiological situation, given the present spread of the COVID-19 globally.”
