This is not to scare, but to inform. Hopefully you are all still willing to stay informed. Any new variant, especially one that is this *contagious, has the potential to increase hospitalizations and/or deaths.
UPDATES ARE IN COMMENTS
Updates show the new variants/sub-variants still circulating, with URLs to many country's resources
Arcturus XBB.1.16
XBB.1.16, is a subvariant of Omicron and part of the new class of XBB subvariants. It is prevalent in India and made its way to North America and 20+ countries in the world thus far. We will all be seeing it soon.
*See US CDC chart below for the previous variant contagion (XBB1.5 from which this variant mutated...and the second pinned note)
“It does not appear to produce more severe disease, so for the moment it is a variant of interest and not a variant of concern,” said Amesh A. Adalja, M.D., at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. https://www.prevention.com/health/health-conditions/a43592554/arcturus-xbb16-new-covid-variant-what-to-know/
Main points
📌 Ability to avoid prior immunity from a previous infection due to spike protein mutation
📌 XBB.1.16 is likely to be more contagious than prior variants*
📌 XBB.1.16 likely to produce more high fever
📌 Coughing
📌 More conjunctivitis, and pink eye with inflammation of the insides of the eyelids
📌 Eyes that are itchy and red, esp.in children.
All or some of these symptoms are still as likely as before...
Most common symptoms of COVID-19 remain:
Fever or chills
Cough
Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
Fatigue
Muscle or body aches
Headache
New loss of taste or smell
Sore throat
Congestion or runny nose
Nausea or vomiting
Diarrhea
This chart shows the US variants of concern and how contagious XBB 1.5 is ... still. This new variant is likely even more contagious, but hopefully not as deadly as some predecessors. *The variant chart is updated in the comments or visit the CDC to keep track of variants in US HERE: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-proportions
*Scroll though updates to see the changes in the sub-variants chart in the last year. It will help give you an understanding of why our immunity wanes so much over time, and why boosters targeting the most virulent in circulation are still so important.
This is the Whitehouse answer to COVID (not that COVID gives a shit)
In closing, know that COVID will never care that the CDC or the Whitehouse or antivaxxers or hospitals and clinics and dentists declare it over, which nearly all have.
I will still be wearing an N95 mask whenever I leave the house and am with people I do not know... You?
UPDATE #4
Aug, 2023: With declining Immunity and hot as Hades weather, the new subvariant is taking hold in the UK and Japan and now the US. Although numbers are up a bit and hospitalizations are up, deaths thus far are not.
Do NOT be frightened by the "news" reports meant to bring in clicks and scare the hell out of you! In the last few weeks, the US stats have doubled... but the stats have been dwindling down to its lowest point in the past 3 years... A little math can foil fear, as can a great chart.
IOW, protection against severe COVID has held up thus far, but having this URL handy and doing searches for REAL and up-to-date data and info from the experts is wise.
VARIANT TRACKERS
USA CDC Variant tracker https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-proportions
Hotspot tracker https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/us/covid-cases.html
Europe tracker https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/covid-19/variants-concern
Australia tracker https://www.health.gov.au/health-alerts/covid-19/weekly-reporting#covid19-impact-on-hospitals
WHO tracker is trash since March https://www.who.int/activities/tracking-SARS-CoV-2-variants
CDC COVID Data Tracker
A comprehensive data centre updated weekly. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#maps_percent-covid-deaths
Wastewater Sewer detection
Here are the Canadian charts. We are remaining on the lower end https://health-infobase.canada.ca/covid-19/wastewater/
The CDC has this National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS) The map shows who is keeping and relaying data to the national database. Light blue, orange are going up and any red dots are high. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#wastewater-surveillance