I haven’t posted Dr. Klotman’s weekly update on COVID for the past two weeks because his updates were very casual commentary providing little or no new information. This past week, you may have heard reports of the XBB Omicron variant that has spread through Asia into Europe and now the US. XBB accounts for >40% of the new COVID cases in the Northeast. Overall, in the US, it appears to account for just under 20% of all new cases.
XBB appears to be a recombinant strain – one in which two other strains of Omicron have shared genetic material so that XBB has some mutations inherited from two other strains rather than just adding new mutations to an existing strain. This sort of thing is a common occurrence in viruses such as Influenza that recombine from among avian (bird flu), porcine (swine flu) and human strains. I think that XBB may be the first example of recombination from among SARS-CoV-2 strains. So, it goes. XBB appears to be more contagious than previous Omicron variants, and antibodies conferred by vaccination and/or prior COVID infection are not as effective in neutralizing it. Virologists sometimes describe this loss of effective immunity as immune evasion by the virus.
Although the Chinese government is reporting a mere ten deaths from COVID since suspending their zero-COVID lockdown approach to pandemic response, reports from within China indicate that the crematoriums have a multi-day backlog of incinerations. By some reports, 90,000 people are dying of COVID in China each day, and some reporters estimate as many as 17 million new cases daily. At that rate, China will replace the US as the country with the greatest number of COVID deaths; it will take a few weeks, I suppose. By the way, COVID deaths reported per 100K citizens puts Peru ahead of the US, but these kinds of statistics are constantly changing as new viral strains, new policies, new medicines and new vaccines emerge.
During our recent visit to Omaha to see our son and his family, we stopped at eateries along the way. We didn’t mask simply because it is impossible to eat while wearing a mask although, in fairness, people have figured out a way to make that work for horses. We had a nice visit in Omaha. When I accompanied the grandkids to the zoo, I forgot my mask at home. Crap! A few days before we set out for home, I awoke with a scratchy throat and nasal congestion. I wrote off the sore throat as a consequence of mouth breathing. It gradually resolved throughout the day. This happened each morning until we left Omaha and then again on the road Friday. Last night, I resolved to test myself for COVID. I performed the test this morning, and it was NEGATIVE.
So, I don’t have COVID; I probably have something even worse – hay fever. My brother, also a physician, assures me that at our age, life is a terminal condition.