Some quick notes, and the news they offer would not be called "good." Variants are evolving faster than vaccines. BA.2.75.2 is no longer the most immune-evasive variant out there. Several others such as BR.2, BM.1.1.1, and CA.1 have passed it. The one to watch, though, is XBB. It is even more immune-evasive and may actually work against the protection offered by the BA.5 bivalent vaccine.
In terms of an autumn wave, numbers have been going up in Europe. It is not encouraging to see that Germany is reporting hospitalizations "for covid," not "with." This suggests that serious covid is on the rise along with infections. BA.5 is still the dominant variant, but the weather is changing, immunity is waning, and behavior is changing. Some evidence for weather being a principal factor is that no increases have yet been seen in Israel, where the weather is still on the warm side.
Finally, how does it feel to be flying blind? We really are as it relates to covid. Over 90 percent of testing and sequencing has stopped around the world. So besides not having a good feel for how many people have covid, we can't tell which variant they have. Another stealth variant might arise and go haywire before it's identified. This does not make me at all happy.
I will leave in a half hour to go work at early voting. I plan to wear a mask. Masks were required last year but are not this year. I wonder if anyone else will be wearing one. I'm guessing no more than one other person.
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