XBB 1.5, will probably catch this soon
June 14, 2026
23 min
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143 of 364
June 14, 2026
XBB 1.5, will probably catch this soon
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Dr John Campbell Episodes Around June 14, 2026
Episode 143 of 364 — walk the feed in the order it was published.
23:43This episodeXBB 1.5, will probably catch this soon
Summary
New Omicron Subvariant, Crazy Infectious
Dr. Ashish Jha, White House COVID-19 response coordinator
https://twitter.com/AshishKJha46/status/1610648627721945088
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/986759?src=wnl_recnlnew1_ous_230112_MSCPEDIT_&uac=127834AR&impID=5080457
Spread of XBB.1.5 is stunning
80% of Americans who've already been infected are likely to catch it again
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2023/01/06/covid-update-xbb-variant-symptoms-reinfection/10995204002/
Dr. Paula Cannon, virologist, University of Southern California
It's crazy infectious
All the things that have protected you for the past couple of years,
I don't think are going to protect you against this new crop of variants
Essentially, everyone in the country is at risk for infection now,
even if they're super careful,
up to date on vaccines,
or have caught it before
The number of severe infections and deaths remains relatively low,
despite the high level of infections,
US Variant Proportions
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-proportions
All omicron
BQ.1.1 34%
XBB.1.5 27.6%
BQ.1 21.4%
XBB 4.9%
BA.5 3.7%
BN.1 3%
SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern and variants under investigation in England
Technical briefing 49
11 January 2023
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1128554/variant-technical-briefing-49-11-january-2023.pdf
Current high UK incidence
England, prevalence 4.5%
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/articles/coronaviruscovid19latestinsights/infections
Primarily of BQ.1 and sub-lineages
Hospitalisation (BQ.1)
Preliminary analysis, no increase in risk for people with BQ.1 compared to BA.5
Effectiveness of the bivalent booster against hospitalisation with BQ.1
At 2 or more weeks after receiving the booster
BQ,1 50.3%
BA.5 64.0%
XBB
First flagged, 11 October 2022
Recombinant lineage
2 BA.2 parent lineages BJ.1 and BM.1.1.1
Advantageous spike mutations from both
(about 12 compared to BA.2)
More receptor binding domain mutations
Plus 23 non spike mutations