COVID variants BQ.1, BQ 1.1 make up 16.6% of U.S. cases - CDC

[Celerity]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/ph.news.yahoo.com/amphtml/covid-variants-bq-1-bq-143917839.html

(Reuters) -The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday estimated that BQ.1 and closely related BQ.1.1 make up for 16.6% of the total circulating coronavirus variants in the United States, nearly doubling from last week.

The variants have spread quickly in the country in the last few weeks, particularly in New York.

The CDC said on Friday that BQ.1 last week was estimated to make up 5.8% of circulating variants, while BQ.1.1 had made up 3.6% of all variants.

The two variants are descendants of Omicron's BA.5 subvariant, which is the dominant form of COVID-19 in the country. The U.S. regulators have recently authorized vaccine boosters that target it.

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Rising cases of variants BQ.1 and XBB could make COVID drugs all but useless, study finds

COVID variants are evolving ways around vaccines and treatments, fueling deadly conditions for a winter surge

https://www.salon.com/2022/10/04/bq1-xbb-variants-resistant/

As colder weather sets in, public health experts are keeping a close eye on COVID-19 variants that could spell doom and gloom this winter, just like omicron did last year. Yet these nascent variants that are rapidly spreading abroad have an evil twist that omicron lacked: an ability to evade the drugs that humans have developed to fight the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

The two subvariants of particular concern are known as BQ.1 and BQ.1.1, both off-shoots of the omicron variant BA.5 (but with several key changes.) Indeed, they seem able to evade many of the tools we have to defend against it, which could trigger a wave of hospitalizations, disabling victims with long COVID or death.

Also worrying are two other strains: one called BA.2.75.2, which seems to be spreading quickly in Singapore, India and regions of Europe; and XBB, which some research suggests is the most antibody-evasive strain tested, almost on the level of the SARS-CoV-1 virus (known then simply as "SARS" ) that caused an outbreak in 2003. This could make the new vaccines relatively useless (but still better than nothing.) Moreover, an outbreak caused by one of these highly drug- and antibody-resistant variants could be much worse due to many world governments performing far less testing and reduced public health surveillance compared to 2020 and 2021.

Despite some confusing remarks from President Joseph Biden, the pandemic appears far from over. The SARS-CoV-2 virus has essentially been given free rein the last several months, allowing it to mutate and evolve new ways around immunity and vaccinations. These tiny alterations are largely focused in the spike protein, the hooks surrounding the virus used to insert itself into cells and reproduce.

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[dembotoz]

1. ny times has updates daily. I usually check

too soon to say but i would not be surprised with another surge

[pdxflyboy]

2. I just tested positive 1 hour ago....

I'm fully vaxxed [all 4], I mask everywhere. I'm 68 and I have a mild sore throat and a slight runny nose. I HOPE it doesn't get any worse than this.

[Tomconroy]

5. You should immediately get a prescription for Paxlovid

[pdxflyboy]

6. Thank you Tomconroy.

My wife is a physician assistant. I'm gonna bring this up with her in about 20 minutes.

[Tree-Hugger]

3. XBB in Singapore

"The Ministry of Health (MOH) is aware of false and misleading statements in an article titled ‘BREAKING! Singapore Is Under Attack By The New SARS-CoV-2 XBB Recombinant Variant With COVID-19 Infections And Hospitalizations Rising. Thailand Could Be Next!’. First published on 9 October 2022 by Thailand Medical News on their website, Facebook page, Twitter page, this article has also been shared on Facebook pages belonging to Mr Goh Meng Seng (10 October 2022), and on a HardwareZone forum thread (10 October 2022)....."

It follows with a fact-based reaponse from their MOH and a link to their Covid tracking data.

https://www.gov.sg/article/factually141022-a

[Blues Heron]

4. CDC tracker just went to once a week updates (thursdays)

next update wont be for another week on that cdc page.