HAVE YOU HEARD OF HV.1?

Taking a look at the weekly Worldometer numbers:

Cases during the past week per million population,

Singapore 2617
New Zealand 693
Russia 283
Germany 273
USA 146
Hong Kong 31
World 24

But, again, many countries have stopped reporting.

HV.1 is now the dominant Covid variant in the U.S.

It is of course a subvariant of Omicron, as are all the prevalent strains today.
First appeared this summer.
By October overtook EG.5 (also known as Eris), and is now responsible for one-third of all Covid-19 cases. HV.1 is a sublineage of Omicron SBB.1.9.2, and a direct descendent of EG,5.
#3 is FL.1.5,1, also known as Fornax.

Eris, or EG.5, remains as the #1 world strain.
Health experts say there is no reason to panic about HV.1, although it is good at spreading to others. Does not produce more hospitalizations.
Can be detected by standard tests. And, by the way, health insurance plans are required to reimburse eight at-home Covid-19 tests PER MONTH. But check the expiration date.

The latest Covid booster offers good protection for HV.1. However, as of the end of October, only 4.5% of Americans have done so. This should still be free for all. The percentage is just about up to 100% for 15 Craigside.

Here is an interesting article about Hong Kong that wonders what happened to the nightlife today, whether the fear of Covid is the reason, and if the party will soon return. In a nutshell:

Yes, people are more cautious today.
However, since the crackdown, many expatriates left the country, more well-to do residents have at least temporarily moved away and a bunch of companies just uprooted to other locations, One has to more careful what one says, so the best way to avoid problems is to party at home.
There is some activity during happy hours after work, but the 2AM/3AM crowd is no longer there.
Some blame the Pandemic of converting many to TV and Netflix.
The strong Hong Kong dollar also means that locals go into China to have fun, for it's cheaper there.
The sense is that Singapore is now more active at night than Hong Kong.

We again just rested today. It was raining. This was the 7th and final day of our first Japan Rail Pass. Thought about lunch in Niigata, but it was supposed to also rain there. We also cancelled our trip to Matsumoto. But we did have an excellent unagi dinner at the Top of Yebisu.