CENTAURUS: The Next dangerous COVID-19 Omicron Subvariant, or a Mere Scariant?

The path of COVID-19 reminds me of a rollercoaster, now on wave #8, I think. The current phase is 4 times lower in deaths/day than the peak that came in February of this year, and almost 6 times below the high that occurred in January of 2021. In new cases/day, the highest number of new cases/day occurred on January of this year at around 4 million/day, with the highest in this current phase 3 times lower at around 1.35 million/day.

From all reports, the COVID-19 Omicron subvariant BA.5 could be the most infectious virus known to man. Measles? Maybe now in second place.

The original Wuhan strain had a reproductive rate (known as Ro or R-naught value) of 3.3, meaning that each infected person would infect 3.3 others.
The 1918 Spanish Flu, for example, was only 2.0.
Mumps =12 and measles = 18.
The Delta variant? 5.1.
The first Omicron, BA.1 = 9.5.
Then came the stealth Omicron = 13.3.
Now, both BA.4 and BA.5 = 18.6.

Now comes Centaurus, BA.2.75. Reproductive rate? Still unknown, but suspected to be higher than BA.5.

A month ago BA.2.75 began surging through India. The fear was this strain would be able to spread more rapidly and get around existing immunities and vaccinations.

But on July 19 the Business Standard of India reported: Covid: Omicron sub-variant BA.2.75 not as dangerous as "hyped." On July 22 Becker's Hospital Review corroborated, with BA.2.75 a "Scarient," not the next variant to worry about. Whew.

Then, on August 10 Medical Life Sciences News said that BA.2.75 shows signs of being more contagious than BA.5. In addition this strain is more immune resistance than other variants.

On the same day, Nature again asked the question: Will Centaurus be the next global coronavirus variant?

Cases rising in India, but the hospitalization rates are low.
20 countries now have this BA2.75 subvariant.
BA.5 and BA.2.75 have similar capacities to dodge immunity conferred by infection and vaccination.
But BA.2.75 seems to be more contagious.
There was a sense that this subvariant might well be contained in India.

Both Moderna and Pfizer announced a new booster to be made available in September, specifically to protect us from BA.4 and BA.5. But will this vaccine also prevent or protect us from BA.2.75? Not yet known, but if you look at the evolution of these subvariants, you would think at least maybe because they all spawned from BA.2.

Regarding this second booster, I'll be early in line for the 105 million doses of Pfizer and 66 million of Moderna already ordered. Any more will require additional funding from Congress.

Here is an update on who is eligible for what. A big problem is that any vaccine loses effectiveness after the last shot in five months, or less. Earlier this month, only about a third of Americans had received their first booster shot. 65% are eligible. Worse, 21% had not received any vaccine dose, and and only 34% of 61 million eligible have taken their second shot (the one before the first booster). In other words, 75% of Americans are considered NOT UP TO DATE. I continue to be mystified as to why.

Need to end with something nicer.

A NEXT COVID SUBVARIANT?

By now most know that the Omicron BA.5 subvariant has become the dominant infectious agent, now accounting for more than 80% of all COVID-19 cases. Very few are aware that a new one, BA.4.6, is sneaking in and steadily rising, now accounting for 13% of sequenced samples . However, as BA.4.6 has emerged from BA.4, while there is uncertainty, the scientific sense is that the latest bivalent booster targeting BA.4 and BA.5 should also be effective for this next threat. One concern is that Evusheld--the only monoclonal antibody authorized for COVID prevention in immunocompromised individuals--is not effective against BA.4.6. Here is a reference as to what this means. A series of two injections is involved. Evusheld was developed by British-Swedish company AstraZeneca, and is a t ixagevimab co-packaged with cilgavimab . More recently, Los Angeles County reported on subvariant BA.2.75.2 . which Tony Fauci termed suspicious and troublesome. This strain has also been spreading in

Part 3: OUR NEXT AROUND THE WORLD ODYSSEY

Before I get into my third, and final, part of this cruise series, let me start with some more newsworthy topics. Thursday was my pandemic day for years. Thus, every so often I return to bring you up to date on the latest developments. All these subvariants derived from that Omicron variant, and each quickly became dominant, with slightly different symptoms. One of these will shock you. There has been a significant decline in the lost of taste and smell. From two-thirds of early patients to now only 10-20% show these symptoms. JN.1, now the dominant subvariant, results in mostly mild symptoms. However, once JN.1 infects some, there seem to be longer-lasting symptoms. Clearly, the latest booster helps prevent contracting Covid. A competing subvariant, BA.2.86, also known as Pirola , a month ago made a run, but JN.1 prevailed. No variant in particular, but research has shown that some of you will begin to lose hair for several months. This is caused by stress more than anythi

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota. Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north. Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge. If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic. Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing. The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University. Caught a bus. Was called the Century 21 Exposition . Also the Seattle World's Fair. 10 million joined me on a six-month run. My first. These are held every five years, and there have only been

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