What we know and don't know about the XBB.1.5 COVID subvariant
XBB.1.5 COVID subvariant: What we knowis responsible for 40.5% of confirmed U.S. cases for the week ending on Dec. 31, the CDC estimates show. That’s up about 20% from the week ending on Dec. 24.
The XBB.1.5 variant is responsible for about 75% of confirmed cases in the Northeast alone, which includes New England, New Jersey and New York, the CDC estimates."We're projecting that it's going to be the dominant variant in the Northeast region of the country and that it's going to increase in all regions of the country," Dr.
Mahon told CBS that the CDC did not list the XBB.1.5 lineage in earlier projections because it did not meet a minimum threshold set by the agency.Experts have become increasingly concerned about the XBB.1.5 and XBB variants — recombinants of the BA.2 subvariant — in recent weeks after it popped up in multiple Asian countries, per