Updates to know about latest COVID symptoms, infections


The newest COVID-19 variant is so contagious that even people who’ve avoided it so far are getting infected and the 80% of Americans who’ve already been infected are likely to catch it again, experts say. 

Essentially, everyone in the country is at risk for infection now, even if they’re super careful, up to date on vaccines or have caught it before, said Paula Cannon, a virologist at the University of Southern California.  

“It’s crazy infectious,” said Cannon, who is recovering from her first case of COVID-19, caught when she was vacationing over the holidays in her native Britain. 

“All the things that have protected you for the past couple of years, I don’t think are going to protect you against this new crop of variants,” she said. 

The number of severe infections and deaths remains relatively low, despite the high level of infections, she said, thanks to vaccinations – and probably – previous infections. 

The latest variant, called XBB.1.5, grew exponentially over the month of December, from about 1% of cases nationwide to 40% as of Dec. 31, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The variant is likely behind the vast majority of cases in New York and New England. 

Its growth is probably due to XBB.1.5’s characteristics – it appears to bind even more tightly to receptors in the human body than its predecessors – as well as human behavior, such as traveling and not masking.



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