#infection-rates

#infection-rates

A new Covid variant called XBB.1.5 is driving a new wave of infections.But susceptibility to it is not, as some contend, being fueled by vaccines.Still, the surges of ever more immune-evasive variants raise legitimate questions about whether vaccines and boosters are still protecting us from infection, or should only be recommended for their ability to prevent severe disease and death.

A new variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 is spreading in the U.S., raising concerns about a potential wave of infections and reinfections to start the new year.The variant, called XBB.1.5, is a descendent of Omicron and a close relative of the XBB variant, which spread widely in Singapore and India this past fall.

It may be too soon to tell what the holiday season has in store when it comes to the tail end of this three-year pandemic.But there is reason to hope that we won't have a very severe winter surge of new COVID infections, especially if more people get their updated boosters.The new bivalent boosters haven't seen nearly enough takers yet, and it seems like apathetic Americans are losing the sense of fear that drove them to get vaccinated back in the winter/spring of 2021.

The smoke from wildfires hundreds of miles north that turned New York into a scene of unsettling gloom on Wednesday arrived as if from a burning building blocks away, draping the city in a thick and otherworldly orange-gray hue.In the air hung the acrid smell of a campfire.Not fog, not mist, not really weather at all this was something new to even veteran New Yorkers.