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This story was updated at 11 a. m.
A new variant of COVID-19 is coming to the Bay Area. But fitness experts say they don’t want to panic just yet.
The XBB. 1. 16 strain, dubbed “Arcturus” through some online, was added to the World Health Organization’s list of variants of interest in April and detected in California, according to tewater’s tracking systems.
It’s still early, but Arcturus is already “defined as the dominant strain during the summer, and the accumulation rate is very high,” Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at UCSF, told KQED.
As COVID continues to evolve with our lives, KQED is tracking new variants and challenging the virus provided and how to stay safe. Read on to learn what we know about XBB. 1. 16, this subvariant of omicron.
The variant Oui. La Arcturus has been detected in San Francisco, Sacramento and San Jose, according to wastewater knowledge from Stanford University’s Sewer Coronavirus Alert Network, or SCAN.
“We see it more in the newer samples,” said Alexandria Boehm, a Stanford professor who oversees the SCAN system. Wastewater data takes two weeks to process, and the recent high showed that 10% of genomes in wastewater can be classified as XBB. 1. 16, i. e. the Arcturus variant.
According to Chin-Hong, the most recent estimates on COVID testing among UCSF patients have shown that the omicron-derived variant is now provided in about 12% of known COVID-19 cases. That’s up from 2% on April 1.
Since the government eliminated many COVID testing resources in recent months, the precise point of the virus on the network is difficult to measure. we don’t have official numbers yet, it’s here,” Chin-Hong said.
The news is that COVID-19 cases, adding hospitalizations, are near their lowest levels since the pandemic began.
As a strain of COVID, Arcturus is very similar to its predecessors and belongs to the omicron BA. 2 lineage. But it differs in that it has an additional protein.
Arcturus is more transmissible than previous variants and that’s why it temporarily outperforms other variants, Chin-Hong said.
Most of what scientists now know about the newest variant comes from India, where it began to worry in January. And so far, there’s little evidence that infections with this variant are more severe.
“The overall threat assessment for XBB. 1. 16 is low compared to XBB. 1. 5 and other variants circulating lately, on supply and with available evidence,” says a WHO threat assessment report (PDF). has reported in countries where XBB. 1. 16 is believed to be in circulation.
“In India and Indonesia, there has been a slight increase in the number of occupied beds,” he said. “However, the grades are much lower than those observed in past waves of variants. “
Indian reports have anecdotally connected some cases of the newer variant with conjunctivitis, better known as conjunctivitis, in inflamed children.
While rare, it’s not an entirely new reaction to COVID in general, according to Chin-Hong. About 1% to 3% of all COVID cases have come with symptoms of conjunctivitis, which come with the red color of the white component of the eyeball. , eye irritation and tears. It can also cause discharge or crusting around the eyes.
“For the record, it turns out there’s more to this subvariant. But many viruses can cause pink eyes, like a virus without normal blood, so it’s not unusual,” Chin-Hong explained. Runny nose can wet other surfaces of the body such as the nose or mouth, and the eye is one of the parts that can become infected. Other viruses may also be the cause.
In a report to KQED, the San Francisco Department of Public Health pointed to this specific detail among the symptoms to watch out for this spring, stating that “while more studies related to the symptoms of this [Arcturus] subvariant are needed, other people who do not have unusual symptoms of COVID-19 symptoms, as well as other people who have conjunctivitis, They will have to stay at home.
As with almost all other COVID variants, older populations are at maximum risk of severe illness, hospitalization, or death.
“If it’s vulnerable to infection, it would be less difficult to become inflamed with this variant,” Chin-Hong said. “But for most people, getting inflamed wouldn’t be much of a challenge because they have a lot of immunity and T and B cells opposed to antibodies, other recent infections and vaccines. “
“We have the equipment to make deaths close to zero, but we still have many more deaths with COVID than with the normal flu virus,” he said. “So it’s vital for the most vulnerable in our community. “
The San Francisco Department of Public Health says the company continues to “strongly propose that eligible Americans seek the bivalent vaccine, which provides coverage opposite to known variants that have been circulating,” noting that other people 65 and older, as well as those with weak immune systems, can now get their dose of the bivalent vaccine.
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