New Covid variant that evades immunity

 Washington Examiner:

Omicron subvariants BA.5 and BA.4 are causing a massive surge in infections in the United States due to their ability to partially evade immunity — including by reinfecting patients as soon as 1 1/2 months after having COVID-19.

New COVID-19 infections are climbing across the U.S. The test positivity rate exceeded 17% last week, indicating a sizable outbreak is underway and that the U.S. is likely to see considerable upticks in new cases in the coming weeks. Deaths are expected to remain steady due to a combination of population immunity and protection from vaccines, which has thwarted outbreaks that would have caused mass deaths roughly 1 1/2 years ago.

BA.5 now accounts for about 53% of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S., while BA.4 makes up about 16% of cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The omicron subvariants, which so far have not driven up death rates, have proven able to evade antibody protection conferred from three doses of a vaccine. The subvariants have also shown to be adept at reinfecting people who only recently recovered from COVID-19 infections. People infected with the omicron BA.2 variant who have recovered are susceptible to illness caused by one of the newer variants just weeks later, Andrew Robertson, Western Australia's chief health officer, said last week.

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 This is bad news for those who believe they have natural immunity because they previously had the disease.  I am not sure what variant I had a few weeks ago.  My doctor prescribed monoclonal antibodies at the time and they seem to work pretty quickly.

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