A new omicron variant is quickly spreading across the U.S. just in time for the New Year. The strain, known as XBB.1.5, accounts right now for almost 41% of confirmed COVID-19 cases nationwide, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The XBB mutation has picked up concerning speed over the past week as it’s jumped from just 21% on Christmas Eve. During the last week of December 2022, XBB.1.5 made up 75.3% of COVID-19 cases in northeastern states. Those states include Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.
In New York and New Jersey, the strain showed up in 72.2% of cases also during the last week of the year. XBB has officially replaced the previously concerning BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 subvariants as the most common strains. Infectious disease experts are increasingly worried about the “highly contagious” omicron XBB variant, according to Reuters. “Ironically, probably the worst variant that the world is facing right now is actually XBB,” Dr. Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota, told Reuters.