If you want the synopsis, here it is.
- We don’t really know what is going on in China and the Pacific rim because the official data are not really reliable – read Politics over Public Health
- It does seem that China and the Pacific rim are seeing a big spike in cases and deaths most likely due to the Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5
- In the US, XBB.1.5 seems to be spreading from the Northeast to the Southeast. Expect that the virus’ manifest destiny is to Go West, Young Virus, Go West.
- The Southwest’s dominant Omicron subvariants are still BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 – both from Britain
- The triple-demic (tridemic?) is either receding or at a lull as COVID, Flu and RSV hospitalizations fall – good news.
If you enjoy Dr. Paul Klotman’s smiling face and presentations as much as I do, here is this week’s COVID update.
In a separate COVID report that I read this week on Medscape, a British Medical Journal meta-analysis revealed that pregnant women who contracted COVID were seven times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth than women who did not. Now, most of my FB friends are, like me, well beyond child-rearing let alone childbearing. Nonetheless, we may have grandchildren and grandnieces and grandnephews. If like me, you do, you might consider these risks that our antivax kin are taking that they may not realize. You may want to give them a friendly heads-up.