The latest Covid variant has arrived. Some scientists are calling it "the Kraken." Andrew Nikiforiuk writes:

 It has arrived in British Columbia and elsewhere in Canada.

The global spread of this variant, officially designated XBB.1.5, could deliver as much contagious grief as the original appearance of Omicron in the winter of 2022 say some researchers.

Kraken could wipe out and replace other circulating variants in this, the fourth year of the pandemic, and thereby create significant waves in many countries.

According to data from a bevy of COVID genomic watchers and independent scientists, XBB.1.5 started to break away from the Omicron pack and become a dominant force about two weeks ago.

It looks like the latest version of COVID could be particularly virulent:

Yale immunologist Akiko Iwasaki, whose research team has identified some of the biological signatures of long COVID, including immune dysfunction and low cortisol levels, is already worried.

She tweeted: “Please protect yourselves and others by wearing N95 masks. I am truly concerned about the #longCOVID wave that follows this infection.”

She added that she was “concerned because of the putative ability of XBB.1.5 to have increased capacity to infect cell types that express even lower levels of ACE2. This will increase tropism and possibly persistence in cell types that are long lived.”

In other words, the Kraken may cause more persistent disease.

And it appears that most of us have abandoned our defenses. Wisdom is in short supply these days.

Image: YouTube