I don’t think the surge will be nearly as bad as the initial Omicron wave in early 2022, though, because of the large proportion of Americans who have by this point already contracted Covid-19 and have some baseline immunity to it. Wen: Covid-19 infections could rise in the coming weeks due to a combination of this new variant and the fact that many people will have traveled and gathered over the holidays. There are many people vulnerable to severe outcomes due to Covid-19, and we need to have a wider range of effective treatments available for them.ĬNN: Could hospitals become overwhelmed again? On a policy level, it’s critical there are urgent investments into better treatments. And on January 6, the agency issued a statement that the preventive antibody Evusheld may be ineffective against XBB.1.5.
Food and Drug Administration withdrew their authorization of the last remaining monoclonal antibody because of its lack of efficacy against new variants. Unfortunately, monoclonal antibody treatments probably don’t. Wen: Antiviral treatments like Paxlovid should work against XBB.1.5. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Spencer Platt/Getty Imagesīiden administration renews Covid-19 public health emergencyĬNN: Do existing treatments work against XBB.1.5? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Thursday that cases and hospitalizations have once again reached levels high enough to warrant indoor masking in many parts of the country. While COVID-19 numbers have dropped significantly in both New York City and the nation over the last year, New York has witnessed a recent surge in cases. The tests won’t show you which strain you picked up, but they should detect circulating variants.Ī COVID-19 testing site stands on a sidewalk in Midtown Manhattan on Decemin New York City. If you have symptoms or are exposed to someone with the coronavirus, you should certainly get tested. Wen: PCR tests definitely can, and there’s no reason to think that this variant won’t be picked up by rapid home antigen tests. Ashish Jha said that “data suggests that if you’ve been vaccinated, if you’ve gotten that updated bivalent booster, you’re still going to have a good amount of protection,” during an interview Friday with CNN’s Kate Bolduan.īut even if it turns out these vaccines don’t hold up as well against infection with XBB.1.5, they will probably protect well against severe illness - which underscores the need for people to receive the updated booster if they are eligible. Further research is underway to identify the degree of immune protection afforded by existing vaccines the White House’s Covid-19 response coordinator Dr. There are some studies that suggest XBB.1.5 is more immune-evasive compared with previously dominant Omicron strains.
Like other Omicron descendants, it probably causes milder illness compared with the Delta variants that predated Omicron. The good news is that, thus far, this strain does not appear to cause more severe disease. This is part of our "new normal." Eduardo Munoz/Reuters There will be new Covid variants that, from time to time, lead to surges of infections, explains Dr. This is a trend seen throughout the coronavirus pandemic - new, even more transmissible strains replacing their predecessors and becoming dominant. A more transmissible strain has the evolutionary advantage that it will spread faster than others, and therefore could displace other strains. The mutations XBB.1.5 has acquired have made it more contagious. First, is it more contagious? Second, does it cause more serious disease? And third, is it more immune-evasive, meaning it undercuts the protection of existing vaccines and treatments? There are three key questions to ask about new variants. Most mutations do not confer evolutionary advantage and won’t spread further, but some do. The more viruses replicate, the more they mutate. Leana Wen: People should not be surprised that there is a new variant. She is also author of “Lifelines: A Doctor’s Journey in the Fight for Public Health.”ĬNN: What should people know about the latest Covid-19 variant, XBB.1.5?ĭr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician, public health expert and professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. To guide us through these questions, I spoke with CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Omicron offshoot XBB.1.5 could drive new Covid-19 surge in US
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A man gets himself tested for coronavirus (COVID-19) in front of portable cabin as people began wearing mask after New York City's health officials have issued an advisory, strongly urging New Yorkers to use masks as COVID-19, flu, and RSV cases rise, on Decemin New York, United States.
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