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Covid Superstars Wallop Defenders [1]

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Date: 2022-12-16

Microscopic image of a gang of nasty covid particles, such as the BQs and XBBs.

“ Alarming antibody evasion” by BQs & XBBs Ignites Winter Wave

Covid’s relentless evolution has breached our defenses against infection except for medieval hand-washing, mask-wearing, and social-distancing.

Apparently, we have only two drugs left for limited protection against covid’s latest death-match warriors: Paxlovid and the newest vaccine shot. [ Well, at least we have plenty of PPE. Remember that? Dust off the pulse oximeters! ]

[ Short on time? Skip to “N.B.: Your “Natural Immunity” near the end of this essay. ]

“ BQ and XBB subvariants present serious threats to current COVID-19 vaccines, render inactive all authorized antibodies, and may have gained dominance in the population because of their advantage in evading antibodies.”

That’s from an accepted Cell Press “Journal Pre-proof” of a study titled “Alarming antibody evasion properties of rising SARS-CoV-2 BQ and XBB subvariants,” by scientists at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, assisted by scientists at the University of Michigan.

“ Therefore, it is alarming that these newly emerged subvariants could further compromise the efficacy of current COVID-19 vaccines and result in a surge of breakthrough infections, as well as re-infections.”

Vaccines Fight Severe Disease, Long Covid

The authors emphasized that a shot of one of the the newest updated “bivalent” vaccines still fights against hospitalization and severe disease, and may also reduce the risk of Long Covid.

But their study reported:

“the combination of [ monoclonal antibodies ] known as Evusheld that is authorized for the prevention of COVID-19 is also completely inactive against the new subvariants. “This poses a serious problem for millions of immunocompromised individuals.”

Strangely, Paxlovid was not mentioned in the report, although it did stipulate that the last remaining therapeutic antibody, bebtelovimab, is now as useless against the BQs and XBBs as previously obsoleted monoclonal antibody treatments casirivimab, cilgavimab, imdevimab, sotrovimab, and tixagevimab,

All Signs Say Spike Alert

“BQ.1, BQ.1.1, XBB, and XBB.1 subvariants exhibit far greater antibody resistance than earlier variants, and they may fuel yet another surge of COVID-19 infections.”

Indeed, all the covid numbers have risen during the first half of December: reported cases +44%, deaths +71%, hospitalizations +22%, intensive care unit (ICU) patients +18%, and test positivity +23% (The New York Times, Dec. 15, 2022. Percentages are 14-day changes).

During the past week (Washington Post, Dec. 15, 2022; percentages are weekly changes): cases +57%, deaths +103%, hospitalizations +3%.

BQ1 was at 0.3% of U.S. covid cases Sept. 10. It’s 31.1% as of Dec. 10, 2022.

BQ1.1 was 0.1% on Sept. 10. Now at 36.8% three months later.

XBB was unknown on Sept 10. At 4.7% as of Dec. 10.

< https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-proportions >

How Many Got the Booster that Hurts BQ & XBB?

14.1% of Americans five years and older, almost exactly one in every seven.

Are You Kidding Me?? Maybe you don’t care about your brain, don’t care if your kids get stupid, don’t mind if your parents and/or grandparents die (“Hey, I’ll inherit.”), and aren’t afraid of the perpetual fatigue of Long Covid, which tackles about one in every five covid victims. Maybe you don’t mind being a victim, period.

You vs. The Horde’s Best

For the past three years, while we humans studied covid, lied about it, ignored it, suffered it, and all the other things, covid fought gazillions of its relatives in billions of human bodies for the equivalent (in virus years) of tens, even hundreds of thousands of human years.

And after countless generations of evolution, the strongest and best covid is the one that bags the most humans. Of the almost infinite number of covid particles ever, the BQs and the XBBs are the fittest of the covid horde.

You think you can beat that?

Well, I put it to you that you may be lucky, but you would do better to take precautions and measures to protect yourself and your loved ones. For instance, keep not only covid, but also colds, flu, RSV, allergies, and air pollution out of your nose by wearing a mask.

If not, Good F-ing Luck.

N.B.: Your “Natural Immunity” is WORTHLESS

So you’ve had covid before, and maybe a shot or two or three. Your immunity and antibodies from all that COUNTS VERY, VERY LITTLE AGAINST BQs AND XBBs. Because they’re evolved diseases, perfected over time.

All your old immunities are about as strong against BQ and XBB as a grammar-school basketball center playing against a college one. Stuff, stuff, stuff, stuff, stuff.

Stuff stuff stuff, stuff stuff. Slamming through your lungs, heart, arteries, and brain:

Stuff stuff stuff, stuff stuff stuff stuff.

Nasty, nasty, very nasty stuff.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/12/16/2142316/-Covid-Superstars-Wallop-Defenders

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