Arcturus (XBB.1.16) emerges

Wait... there's a new strain? How is this possible? We're done with the pandemic so a new even-higher-transmissible strain can't possibly reach 20+ countries... again, the more we circulate COVID-19, the more quickly new strains will arise, another reason that spread-is-spread is important.

Good news: The new strain doesn't (in early reporting) appear to cause more severe illness than other strains.
Bad news: There is no reason to believe that it does not continue to cause long covid and even if it were to cause fewer severe illness, the higher transmissibility rate means it'll get to the more susceptible among us more than past strains have been recently.


https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/what-to-know-about-highly-transmissible-arcturus-covid-variant-as-new-symptom-emerges/3120580/?fbclid=IwAR11o69EYYJ6JGrvPeR88Edg1XHJmdhQ9W36QcqWWZH0hFOpHnKPap9mCfk

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