SARS Cov 2's New-Year Groove

Turning over a new leaf on the Phylogenetic tree

What more suitable way is there to ring in a new year than with a new variant of SARS Cov 2? Courtesy of NYC, the orbs will drop over Madison Square Garden, symbolizing a departure of BQ.1.1 and the arrival of XBB.1.5. But not to fret, just as in years past, electronic hearths tuned in to the experience in the big apple, so too will the heartland have her share of the festivities. XBB.1.5 is coming or has already arrived at a theater near you.

DALL E

Permit me to be serious for a moment. I want you to think about all the people who claimed the “Omicron Soup” would not yield “an explosive new variant.” Or the officials and people who told the public the pandemic was nearing an end. I want to reiterate this: the virus’ evolution is so rapid it can nucleate epidemic-like behavior in a rapid fashion from variants. And as the slow kids in the classroom have finally picked up, the T cell cross-reactive immunity is offering little protection from reinfection and the antibody immunity quickly fades AND is escaped by that evolution. This was a nightmare scenario most people claimed was unlikely but I maintained was an unfortunate possibility. As hospitalizations for Covid have already reached February highs, we can see that T cells have not saved us from Covid-19. In fact, someone needs to save the T cells from Covid-19.

The CDC itself has shown absolute capitulation, with its leadership claiming little can be done to prevent the onslaught. So what do they do? Refuse to acknowledge the issue. Kick the can down the road and put their faith in magical thinking. The kind of magical thinking where long covid rates go down with reinfection and mild infection has no pathophysiology if one is vaccinated. And there is a new issue to contend with: how the immune system may in fact be choosing tolerance, to “live with Covid,” rather than “violence” or rooting out every infected cell, like zero covid. When you choose tolerance with Cov2, friends, you allow the virus to persistently dwell and challenge the immune system. Like the study that showed asymptomatic kids with cov2 in their tonsils and adults with it in their stomachs.

DALL E

I don’t foresee much changing in what we do to approach the constant onslaught of waves of Cov2 because leadership has decided this is all that is to be done. But at least something is taking charge and making changes around here, and getting a head-start on it, too.

Happy New Years, Everyone

AJ