The Northeast has the highest proportion of estimated cases linked to XBB.1.5., which the World Health Organization warns is the most transmissible COVID variant to date.
Public health experts said the reason for the rise is multi-factorial and includes the spread of more transmissible variants, a higher proportion of elderly people and not many Americans receiving the updated bivalent booster.Not much is known about XBB.1.5. What we do know is that it is an offshoot of the omicron subvariant, which caused a surge of infections during the winter 2021-2022 season.
Comparatively, XBB.1.5 makes up an estimated 7.3% of new cases in the Midwest and about an estimated 6% of new cases in the Great Plains region.As of Jan. 5, 2022, six of the 10 states with the highest percentage of residents who have received an updated bivalent booster dose live in the Northeast, according to CDCVermont leads the pack with 31.3% followed by Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Hampshire, respectively.The shot was developed to specifically target the BA.
"My suspicion is that the transmissibility of XBB.1.5 most likely far outweighs the proportion of people who have gotten the booster," Roberts said. "Even though we are a higher vaccinated region than many other regions of the country, it is still the minority of people in our region who have gotten the bivalent booster."
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