![]() ![]() XBB.1.5 is the subvariant that the new boosters, coming out later this month, were designed to target.īut new research shows that people who had been infected with an XBB subvariant in the past six months performed well against BA.2.86, Chin-Hong said. “Just looking at the virus, structurally, it looks scary with all the mutations compared to XBB.1.5, which the vaccine was based on,” Chin-Hong said. What’s more, the BA.2.86 variant - dubbed “Pirola” by some on social media - may not be as bad as scientists initially feared. Those include subvariants called EG.5 (which accounted for 21.5% of new cases for the week ending Sept. Instead, the current increases in cases and hospitalizations are likely due to the XBB subvariants, the CDC says. 30, the CDC said that the variant had been detected in four states: in Michigan, New York, Ohio and Virginia. While there are a slew of variants in circulation in the U.S., BA.2.86 remains very rare. “We also see Covid tests being absent on their shelves in Walgreens and CVS and other places as well, because people have more transmission right now.” Is the BA.2.86 variant to blame?Įxperts say no. “When you know multiple people who are currently experiencing symptoms of Covid or tested positive of Covid, that’s another great marker to recognize how much of it there is in your community,” Guest said. Other signs of increased Covid activity are easy for the general public to spot. “We are in a period of higher levels of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater right now, and that’s associated with an increase in the number of cases in the community,” Wolfe said, referring to the virus that causes Covid.ĭeaths appear to be up slightly, after a summer in which weekly totals hovered under 600 - and occasionally dipped below 500 - for much of June and July. “The wastewater is giving us a pretty clear picture that there has been, you know, quite an uptick in cases in these communities that we’re monitoring recently,” said Marlene Wolfe, an assistant professor of environmental health at Emory University and program director for WastewaterSCAN, which monitors 171 wastewater treatment sites in 34 states. Wastewater samples are also showing an increase in Covid. ![]() Stephanie Keith / Bloomberg via Getty Images file A commuter at a subway station in New York in March. ![]() 19 saw 2.3% of ER visits with a Covid diagnosis, up from 0.5% the week ending July 1, according to the CDC. Earlier in the summer, it ranged from 10 to 15 patients, he said, so while the numbers have gone up, it’s nothing like what the hospital saw last winter, when more than 100 patients were hospitalized with Covid.Įmergency room visits with a Covid diagnosis in the U.S. Peter Chin-Hong, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, said that at his hospital system, 21 patients are hospitalized with Covid. Current numbers may be missing asymptomatic cases and therefore be lower than earlier ones.ĭr. ![]() “ We know that the NHS really suffers through the winter with increased pressures, and this is all about understanding what’s happening in the community, and the impact that is having on our healthcare services.”Īround 145,000 people will take part, and remarkably we got halfway to that target within the first 48 hours, that’s how keen people are to take part in this study and help us to get on the front foot of potential future outbreaks.”Ĭlick here to listen to the full episode now or find it on your podcast app of choice.“We’re now only testing people who are symptomatic,” said Guest, who added that this makes it difficult to directly compare hospitalization numbers to what was seen previously in the pandemic. Jo Evans, its head of operations, explains: Joining podcast host Miles Fletcher are Josie Golding of the Wellcome Trust, who’ll share how even weather events like El Niño could affect the spread of viruses, and ONS colleague Joy Preece to tell us all about the ‘pandemic preparedness toolkit’, a five-year project backed by Wellcome to create and develop resources that will help countries with health surveillance in the event of future pandemics.Ĭloser to home, a new UK winter surveillance study to gather vital data on COVID-19 is now well underway. In the latest episode of Statistically Speaking we explore how pandemic preparedness has been the driving force behind two important pieces of work. The ONS led the way informing the UK response to the Coronavirus pandemic, but looking beyond our shores, how well equipped is the world to spot and monitor emerging infections? ![]()
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