A New Coronavirus Variant Raises Concerns in the U.S. Northeast

The XBB.1.5 subvariant now accounts for 41 percent of new infections across the country

First reports of a new respiratory illness, which became a pandemic, began to leak from Wuhan, China towards the end of December 2019. One death in the county due to the SARS-COV-2 VIRUS was confirmed on January 11, 2020. The first documented case of Covid in the U.S. was in Washington State on January 20, 2020. The original Alpha variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus went through several mutations, which along with the other major variants, Delta and Omicron, killed millions of people worldwide.

The mRNA vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna became available by January 2021 followed by Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot vaccine a month later. Widespread vaccinations followed by booster doses in the U.S., Europe, many parts of Asia, Oceania, and some African countries made a serious dent in the spread of the diseases and minimized the number of hospitalizations and deaths. Despite vaccinations, 6.69 million people died of Covid worldwide. The United States alone reported 1.09 million deaths due to Covid.

On December 20, 2022, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported tracking a new variant of concern dubbed XBB.1.5. The XBB subvariant…