BQ.1.1 subvariant: This Deadly COVID Twist Is Like Nothing We've Seen Before

[Sympthsical]

17. TLDR - get the bivalent booster

We're going to see some variation of this story every year for a while.

As people are outside more in the summer months, precautions drop, and people grow comfortable, COVID will spread around - particularly among the more socially active younger cohorts. Then it will grow colder, people will head indoors after having grown comfortable with fewer restrictions, and it'll start doing its thing.

This is going to go on as every winter approaches. One other aspect that is kind of mentioned is that natural immunity also wanes over time. Omicron blew through last December/January, and many of the people who contracted it will see that natural immunity falling off within a 12-16 month span. Most research suggests natural immunity will be annually cyclical in this way.

I wish the article was somewhat less breathless about it, however. We're going to have some variation of this every winter, like a flu on steroids. A yearly reminder to go into the colder season with a booster and best judgement precautions will be in order.

But writing it like Internet clickbait isn't useful. "COVID WILL KILL YOU WITH THIS ONE WEIRD TRICK!" Thanks, guys.

The article itself then spends half its time undercutting the drama of the headline. Boosters work, the spike protein mutations aren't crazy concerning in any scientifically alarming way. A lot of it is just stating what's become obvious.