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COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness for all age groups has been much worse against the Omicron virus variants than earlier strains, particularly the currently dominant subvariants, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data presented on Sept. 1. The data, much of which has never been published before, shows that the protection against both symptomatic infection and severe disease is not as strong against the Omicron, which emerged in December 2021, and its subvariants. Data from the CDC’s Increasing Community Access to Testing, a no-cost testing program, showed that vaccine effectiveness for a booster compared to a primary series...

Long COVID may be one of many reasons why in a recession, labor paradoxically still remains scarce. When the original strain of COVID-19 arrived in spring 2020, a pandemic soon swept the country. By far most survived COVID. But hundreds of thousands did not. American deaths now number well over 1 million. Amid the tragedy, there initially was some hope that the pernicious effects of the disease would all disappear upon recovery among the nearly 99 percent who survived the initial infection. Vaccinations by late 2020 were promised to end the pandemic for good. But they did not. New mutant...

Most people infected by the omicron variant of COVID-19 were not aware they had it, according to a new study. “More than one in every two people who were infected with omicron didn’t know they had it,” the study’s first author and an investigator at Cedars-Sinai Sandy Y. Joung said in a media release. “Awareness will be key for allowing us to move beyond this pandemic.” Investigators conducting a study examining COVID-19 and the effect of vaccines identified nearly 2,500 blood samples from patients just before and after the start of omicron’s surge – identifying 210 people who likely had...

As the highly infectious BA.5 variant spreads across the US, experts say they're wearing masks outdoors, especially in crowded settings, to protect against contracting COVID-19. The BA.5 Omicron subvariant appears to better escape the disease-fighting antibodies produced after vaccination or prior infection than other subvariants, which means people are more likely to become infected, irrespective of prior immunity — though vaccines will still stop most from getting sick

The Omicron BA.5 subvariant has become the dominant coronavirus strain in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While this variant is fast-spreading, it appears to be less severe than early versions of the virus, and its symptoms are similar to those of other Omicron subvariants, experts say. Symptoms of Omicron infections are typically coldlike, including a sore throat, sneezing, and a runny nose. Symptoms like fever, chills, and cough are still seen sometimes in Omicron cases but not as frequently as in earlier variants of the virus. Like past variants in the Omicron lineage, BA.5...

Is America prepared for a new COVID-19 variant and the wave of infections it’s causing? Will vaccines hold up against it? More to the point, it’s already upon us … and doesn’t appear to be creating any new issues.That’s not to say that everyone’s sanguine about it. The teachers-union leader that fought to keep schools closed for the better part of two years declared that “Covid isn’t over” (via Twitchy):The arrival of subvariant BA.5 should be a reminder that Covid isn’t over. https://t.co/2AZQjqLpDG— Randi Weingarten ☮️🇺🇦 (@rweingarten) July 8, 2022The Washington Post editorial board declared that the arrival of the...

While fears may be growing that another COVID-19 surge will be upon us in the coming months, there is some indication that the future is now.There’s a reason data show that, while the positivity rate of COVID tests has spiked to five-month highs, and hospitalizations have steadily climbed to four-month highs, new daily COVID cases have held steady for the past couple of months.The new cases are being undercounted because results of widely available at-home tests aren’t being reported for government tabulation. The Fourth of July holiday has also caused reporting delays. And many states have stopped providing daily updates,...

The latest subvariant of the novel coronavirus to become dominant in Europe, the United States, and other places is also, in many ways, the worst so far. The BA.5 subvariant of the basic Omicron variant appears to be more contagious than any previous form of the virus. It’s apparently better at dodging our antibodies, too - meaning it might be more likely to cause breakthrough and repeat infections. Vaccines and boosters are still the best defense. There are even Omicron-specific booster jabs in development that, in coming months, could make the best vaccines more effective against BA.5 and its genetic...

How often do you see scientists scrambling to debunk a piece because it’s *too scary* about COVID rather than not scary enough?It’s happening on social media today as virologists voice their contempt for this buzzworthy analysis, which cites one preliminary study and some questionable supporting material to make two shocking claims. One: Being infected by Omicron or one of its substrains may confer “no immunity” against future infections, theoretically making reinfection possible every few weeks. Two: It’s possible that each reinfection “depletes T cells and destabilizes immune function,” leading to “cumulative” immune damage — in which case each reinfection could...

Covid sufferers who caught the Omicron variant will not be protected from catching it again, according to scientists at Imperial College London. The investigators say Omicron and its evolutions could explain why Covid cases remain higher than predicted in the UK. Earlier studies found that past illnesses with Covid provided some immunity against re-infection - but the latest research indicates that is not the case with the Omicron variant, The Telegraph reports. Prof Danny Altmann from the Imperial College's Department of Immunology and Inflammation, said: 'The message is a little bleak. Omicron and its variants are great at breakthroughs but...

CHICAGO (CBS) -- It has been almost three months since city leaders dropped COVID-19 restrictions – but as we head toward summer, experts warn we could see more COVID cases. As CBS 2's Sabrina Franza reported, Chicago is expected to become an area with high COVID-19 risk as soon as this week. Meanwhile, we are also now hearing new reports of another disease – monkeypox – with cases popping up around the world and right here in the U.S.

Covid cases are now rising in 26 U.S. states and are up 25% nationwide, reversing the months-long trend of case declines coming off of the winter Omicron surge Dr Ashish Jha, the White House Covid response coordinator, told NBC Monday that he is not overly concerned about this recent shift Hospitalizations with the virus are at their lowest point of the pandemic so far, Jha notes, with Covid deaths having cratered 25% over the past week as well The 'stealth' variant is largely responsible for these increases, now making up 72% of US cases, the CDC reports . Covid cases...

The rise of Covid cases in some regions of the U.S., just as testing efforts wane, has raised the specter that the next major wave of the virus may be difficult to detect. In fact, the country could be in the midst of a surge right now and we might not even know it. Testing and viral sequencing are critical to responding quickly to new outbreaks of Covid. And yet, as the country tries to move on from the pandemic, demand for lab-based testing has declined and federal funding priorities have shifted. The change has forced some testing centers to...

A new coronavirus variant that could be the most transmissible yet has been identified in the United Kingdom. The variant, known as XE, is a combination of the omicron subvariants BA.1 and BA.2. It was first detected in the U.K. on Jan. 19, according to the World Health Organization, though it has since been reported in India as well. As of late March, roughly 600 cases of it were identified.

According to the World Health Organisation’s latest report, a new Covid-19 variant, a recombinant of the BA.1 and BA.2 Omicron strains, has been found in the UK. The new variant called “XE” was first detected in the United Kingdom on January 19, and over 600 cases have been reported since then. “The XE recombinant was first detected in the United Kingdom on January 19 and over 600 sequences have been reported and confirmed since,” WHO said in its weekly epidemiological update last Month. “Early-day estimates indicate a community growth rate advantage of ~10% as compared to BA.2, however this finding...

The more contagious omicron subvariant BA.2 has become the dominant COVID-19 strain in the U.S., but international health experts are putting an increased focus on a new hybrid variant that may even be more infectious. The XE variant is a recombinant, meaning it is comprised of genetic material from two other strains, which in this case are BA.1, the original strain of omicron, and BA.2, known as "stealth omicron." According to an epidemiological update published March 29 by the World Health Organization, estimates show XE is 10% more transmissible than BA.2, however the findings require further confirmation.

White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci said Sunday that he does not believe the new variant of the coronavirus will lead to a surge in cases or a return to pandemic lockdowns. During an appearance on ABC's "This Week," Fauci told host George Stephanopoulos that the new BA.2 variant is more transmissible than the original omicron variant of the virus. He said it is about 50-60 percent more transmissible and could become the dominant variant in the U.S. According to Fauci, the new variant is "about 80 plus percent, 85 percent of the isolate" whereas, in the U.S., it...

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned Americans this week that they could soon face additional COVID-19 lockdown measures should a new strain of the virus cause case numbers to increase. Fauci, who also serves as an adviser to President Biden, said the BA.2 subvariant could soon increase the rate of infections in America. He suggested that Americans should "be able to pivot" back and forth between a more common way of life and the measures that were taken in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus at the height of...

Scientists are learning more about a hybrid variant of COVID-19 that has been detected called “deltacron.” Deltacron was first reported early this year, when it was thought to be a co-infection of the omicron and delta coronavirus variants (meaning people were possibly infected with two variants at once). Now, researchers believe it’s a single, hybrid variant that combines genes from both delta and omicron. On Wednesday, the World Health Organization decided to start tracking deltacron, but is not yet calling it a variant of concern. “It’s got features of omicron and features of delta,” said Dr. John Swartzberg, a professor...

The first time Biden declared victory in the war on COVID-19 was on Independence Day last year, and he did so again Tuesday night. “Thanks to the progress we have made this past year, COVID-19 need no longer control our lives,” he said. But are we getting our hopes up that things will start returning to normal? “Just as Omicron fades, a new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 has now been detected in every U.S. state,” reports Joseph Curl at the Daily Wire. “The variant, which didn’t get its own Greek letter name and is known simply...