New COVID Subvariants Rising: How Concerned Should We Be?

[uman]

At this point, infectious disease experts have only predictions. A worst-case scenario would be a surge of one or more strains that evade our immune protections just as a predicted fall and winter surge hits the United States. At the same time, we know a lot more about SARS-CoV-2 than we did when COVID first became a household name. And despite some widespread pandemic fatigue, people know the basics of protection at this point should it be necessary — gulp — to go back to masking, obsessive handwashing, and keeping a safe distance from our neighbors.

[kathil]

@uman The new booster is a better match to what is circulating than the old booster, but we don't know what that means in real life. A bit of good news is that the bivalent COVID booster will provide some protection against these strains, and we really just need people to roll up their sleeves and receive it