Dr Ruth's Newsletter for 10/21/23

Here's Dr. Ruth Ann Crystal's latest newsletter, COVID news and more 10/21/23. I'm always happy to see this information when so many people have chosen to ignore COVID completely. 

Here's an excerpt:

"COVID hospitalizations, Emergency Department visits and deaths are all on the decline in the U.S. this week. Emergency departments are just starting to see small increases in RSV and influenza. Wastewater monitoring shows that there are high levels of SARS-2 in the northeast, including New York state, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and parts of Maine, but overall levels are dropping. On Biobot, the midwest has been showing a few ups and downs in SARS-CoV-2 virus levels in the last weeks.

Variants

HV.1 is the fastest growing variant in the US again this week. HV.1 (EG.5+L452R) is an EG.5 variant with an added L452R mutation. The fall XBB.1.5 COVID vaccines should work against HV.1 which is good news. We are just starting to see the appearance of HK.3 in the US. HK.3 has a FLip mutation and is growing quickly in Singapore and China.

JN.1 (Pirola BA.2.86+L455S) is the Pirola variant with an L455S mutation that helps it evade neutralizing antibodies better."