Pandemic daily update, 3 November 2022

Just a reminder that I’m doing these daily updates while Twitter is in flux, with millions exiting. Yet there’s still a pandemic out there to contend with and with this newsletter I’m trying to share what I learn and know each day.

Today’s update is upbeat. The main concerning new variant in the United States now is BQ.1.1 (and its descendants such as BQ.1.1.10) which has shown a marked growth advantage here in recent weeks and we’ll get another update from CDC tomorrow. Along with XBB (<1% in the US) it has an extreme level of immune evasiveness.

So we now turn to France, where BQ.1.1 has become dominant, accounting for >50% of new cases. There is no sign that it is having a clinical impact with cases and Covid hospital admissions heading down.

As Daniele Focosi graphs frequently, the number of new variants with multiple (up to 9) convergent mutations is staggering, today’s update below. There are certainly other variants to the far right (having acquired the most mutations) to be concerned about. We’re not out the woods, by any means. But uncoupling the very worrisome lab results from the clinical sequelae would be just what we need right now.

We’ll see if this holds up in the weeks ahead. XBB, localized mainly in Asia, isn’t causing any new trouble yet either. Three years into this marathon mess, I’ll take any positive sign possible.

Thanks for reading.

PS Parenthetically, I’m a lot more worried about the US democracy now than the pandemic