Weekly Updates on COVID 19 Variants: Dr Wu and Hossein Moein Taghavi

The new variant of Omicron XBB.1.5 is very infectious, began in India in August 2022 and spread through South East Asia. It is now in New England, New York and New Jersey. 82% of the new cases in the Northeast is due to this variant XBB.1.5.   Paxlovid and the bivalent booster is protective and so please consider the booster shot.  Paxlovid is still free in CVS and Walgreens and all the major pharmacy chains. DxTerity,  a saliva based "at home" COVID test kit does not do well in testing for the new variants or XBB, BA.2.75 or BNI. Thus if you have symptoms but test negative, please wear a mask, as advised by the CDC.