A new COVID vaccine is due out next month, but health experts and analysts say it is likely to be coolly received even as hospitalizations from "Eris", a variant of the Omicron form of the coronavirus, rise around the country. https://t.co/YCgj6imLYC
— Reuters Health (@Reuters_Health) August 14, 2023
… As of Friday, another new player is more officially in the mix: “Fornax,” or FL.1.5.1, an Eris relative named after a constellation in the southern hemisphere. That’s according to Ryan Gregory, a biology professor at the University of Guelph in Ontario, who has been assigning “street names” like Kraken to high-flying variants.
FL.1.5.1 is the top variant currently reported in New York, considered a bellwether state by variant trackers. There, wastewater levels and hospitalizations are rising, notes Raj Rajnarayanan—assistant dean of research and associate professor at the New York Institute of Technology campus in Jonesboro, Ark.—and a top COVID-variant tracker…
Regardless, cases will likely peak in late November, shortly after the Thanksgiving holiday, Rajnarayanan says.
A post-Thanksgiving peak is typical for the virus, owing to holiday gatherings. Gregory agrees with the forecast. But in many ways, the landscape of the pandemic has changed from earlier days, he says.
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: August 16, 2023Post + Comments (20)