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What is Orthrus? Will new variant cause a COVID surge in Utah? - Deseret News

What is Orthrus? Will new variant cause a COVID surge in Utah? - Deseret News:

How effectively? Well, even people who have COVID-19 antibodies from a previous infection or vaccination still have pretty much zero protection against orthrus, Oakeson said, adding it also does a “really good job” of binding to cellular receptors.

Those two attributes mean the latest version of the omicron variant that sent COVID-19 cases soaring to record levels just over a year ago could spark another huge surge. Oakeson said it’s not yet known whether CH.1.1 infections are more severe.

“It’s still kind of early on with this,” he said, adding, “It’s hard to say right now that it’s going to be more severe.” But even if the severity turns out to be similar to previous versions of omicron, orthrus could still spell trouble.

“What we don’t want to see is like we had with the original omicron variant, that huge spike in cases that then relates to a huge number of people in the hospital and a huge number of deaths,” the chief scientist said. “We don’t want to see that again.”

(2) Meaghan Kall on Twitter: "That said, evidence is accumulating to suggest that XBB.1.5 does have the edge in infectiousness Due to the double nucleotide change at 486 increasing spike affinity to ACE2 h/t @yunlong_cao @SystemsVirology https://t.co/HHijGfPcP1" / Twitter

(2) Meaghan Kall on Twitter: "That said, evidence is accumulating to suggest that XBB.1.5 does have the edge in infectiousness Due to the double nucleotide change at 486 increasing spike affinity to ACE2 h/t @yunlong_cao @SystemsVirology https://t.co/HHijGfPcP1" / Twitter

China zero-Covid policy: How did it all go so wrong for Xi Jinping? | CNN

China zero-Covid policy: How did it all go so wrong for Xi Jinping? | CNN: 

 

As an unprecedented wave of infections – and deaths – sweeps the country, many have questioned why after sacrificing so much under zero-Covid and waiting for so long to reopen, the government ultimately let the virus rip through a population with little prior warning or preparation. 

15 Best N95, KF94, and KN95 Face Masks (2022) | WIRED

15 Best N95, KF94, and KN95 Face Masks (2022) | WIRED: According to a report from spring 2021, if an infected and noninfected person were both wearing cloth masks, it would take around 27 minutes for an infectious dose of Covid-19 to reach the noninfected person. If both were wearing surgical masks, that time would rise to about an hour. If both were wearing non-fitted N95s, it would take 25 hours to receive an infectious dose. This was before the Delta or Omicron variants, but it should offer an idea of the masks' relative effectiveness levels.

SARS-CoV-2 variants dashboard

SARS-CoV-2 variants dashboard

 

This is pretty cool!  I have quit thinking about variants when they seemed to be getting less deadly. 

CGP Gray mentioned that variants are getting more transmissible but less deadly.  I'd like to read more research about that.