The new COVID variant XBB.1.5, also known unofficially as the “kraken” variant, continued to rise in the Midwest, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but what makes the new variant so contagious and are experts expecting a surge?
Dr. Allison Arwady, commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, said Tuesday that she anticipates numbers in the Midwest will continue to rise. She noted last week the variant is"clearly more infectious" than other variants,"meaning it's spreading more easily" and"outcompeting the other variants."
"The virus needs to bind tightly to cells to be more efficient at getting in and that could help the virus be a little bit more efficient at infecting people," Andrew Pekosz, a virologist at Johns Hopkins University, toldJha echoed that finding, saying the variant"binds more tightly to the human ACE receptor," which can affect contagiousness.
While there are significant concerns surrounding the new strain, it remains an omicron subvariant, Arwady added, which offers less risk than if the variant were in an entirely different family.
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