Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top adviser on the pandemic, said Friday that the rapid rise in the Omicron subvariants BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 — which accounted for more than 1 in 10 cases sequenced in the U.S. last week, according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — is being “under serious consideration” by federal health officials. “When you get variants like that, you see what their rate of increase is as a relative proportion of the variants, and that has a pretty disturbing doubling time,” President Biden’s chief medical adviser told CBS News. The BQ.1 variants are behind recent surges of the virus in England and Germany, and in the US last week outnumbered all other lineages in Health and Human Services Region 2, which spans New York and New Jersey. The strains were identified just over a month ago. Fauci also expressed concern that the variants have mutations that make them resistant to available antibody treatments, such as Evusheld. An AstraZeneca spokesman said the company had no data on how BQ.1 might affect its preventive medicine. “The bad news is that there is a new variant emerging that has properties or characteristics that could avoid some of the interventions we have,” he said. “But the somewhat encouraging news is that this is a BA.5 subline, so there will almost certainly be some cross-protection that you can boost with the bivalent BA.5.”

“Don’t wait to get stronger,” say infectious disease experts An advocacy group of more than 12,000 doctors, scientists and public health experts specializing in infectious diseases is recommending that the American public get the updated bivalent COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible in anticipation of another winter wave. The Infectious Diseases Society of America on Thursday released a statement titled “Don’t Wait to Get Aid” urging “everyone eligible for aid now as cases of COVID-19 increase in Europe and other parts of the world – a sign that it could a wave in the United States’. The team assured that available vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna are safe and effective in preventing the most serious outcomes of a COVID-19 infection, and dismissed unsubstantiated reports linking the vaccines to health complications. “These vaccines are continuously monitored for safety and effectiveness, and to date there is no reliable scientific evidence to support increased rates of cardiac deaths in any population due to the COVID-19 vaccines.”

The highly contagious BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 variants are spreading rapidly in the US While the omicron BA.5 subvariant appears to be on the wane, accounting for 67.9 percent of cases sequenced in the U.S. last week, newer strains of the virus are on the rise, according to data released Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The emerging subvariables BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 accounted for 11.4% of the new cases, with a sharp growth rate showing them to be outpacing their rivals. In the UK, infections from a highly mutated BQ.1.1 are doubling every week, causing a dramatic increase in hospitalizations. In the US, the two new subvariants account for nearly four times as many cases as BA.2.75 (1.3%) and have overtaken BF.7 (5.3%), which preceded it by weeks. In addition, the BQ.1 subvariant — which includes three significant mutations in its spike protein — is the first to be shown to be resistant to the available antibody treatments, Evusheld and bebtelovimab. Although the newer sub-variants were detected in the US more than a month ago, the CDC listed them publicly for the first time on Friday in the variant tracking ratio. Health officials say the updated bivalent boosters from Moderna and Pfizer are still effective in preventing the worst outcomes from COVID-19, even for the newer strains.

Group Sues SF Over Religious Exemptions for COVID Vaccine Mandate San Francisco, the first major US city to require its employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19, is being sued by four former workers who say it should have granted their requests for religious exemptions. The case is not unique – claims of religious discrimination in vaccine mandates have been filed in federal courts nationwide, with little success. What may be notable about San Francisco’s case is that, of the city’s 35,000 employees, 1,070 have requested religious or medical exemptions since the vaccination mandate was issued in June 2021. Eight religious exemptions and 10 medical exemptions have been granted. . Read more about a case in which plaintiffs’ lawyers accuse the city of anti-religious bias.

One in 37 were infected in the UK British health officials have warned of a “significant increase” in coronavirus infections, according to the BBC. The latest estimates from the Office for National Statistics show that one in 37 people in the UK have COVID-19, up from one in 50 reported last week. Sarah Crofts, the agency’s deputy director, said things could get worse this winter. “Infections have risen again across much of the UK, continuing the pattern of steady increases seen in recent weeks,” he said. The latest figures show that around 2.7% of the population – around 1.7 million people – have been infected with the virus, with people over 50 being the most affected. The number of people being hospitalized with COVID-19 has also increased. There are currently 10,608 patients in hospitals who have tested positive for the virus, a 10% jump from the previous week.

A European country ready to bring back the mask Germany’s health minister urged the country’s 16 states on Friday to consider stepping up measures against the coronavirus amid a surge in new cases. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said he was in favor of requiring masks to be worn indoors, a measure that has largely faded in Germany except on public transport, medical facilities and care homes. “The direction we’re going in is not good,” Lauterbach told reporters in Berlin, according to the Associated Press. The number of newly confirmed cases per 100,000 residents over a seven-day period was 760, up from 695 the previous week. Lauterbach said the true number of cases could be three to four times higher, as many rapid test positives are never reported to authorities. He added that it would be better for states to impose limited restrictions now rather than tighter ones later. “The sooner we hit the brakes the better it will be,” he said.

Virus levels in the US are stalling After seeing much progress over the past two months, community levels of COVID-19 in the US have fallen into a holding pattern. Last week, for the first time since April, less than 1% of the US population lived in an area with “high” community levels of COVID-19. But now that number is back to 1.02 percent, based on hospitalization and case rates, according to updated data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The “medium” and “low” levels remain unchanged, at 79.51% (versus 79.05% last week) and 19.43% (versus 19.95%), respectively. Based on a separate metric that tracks rates of new cases and positive tests, half of the counties remain in the “high” transmission category. In the latter category, all nine Bay Area counties plus Santa Cruz and San Benito are considered to be at the “substantial” level of transmission, the second-worst of the four.

Three out of four high school students have experienced a mental health crisis, according to a CDC study Nearly 3 in 4 American high school students reported adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) associated with poor mental health and suicidal behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study released Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. ACEs are defined as “preventable, potentially traumatic events that occur in childhood,” such as neglect, experiencing or witnessing violence, or a change in aspects of a child’s environment that may undermine a sense of safety, stability, and attachment. The analysis, using data from 4,390 high school students tracked from January to June 2021, in the 2021 Survey of Teen Behaviors and Experiences, shows that 37.1% of teens surveyed reported poor mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic , with 19.9% ​​considering and 9% attempted suicide in the previous year. Almost three-quarters (73.1%) experienced at least one mental health problem. “The effect size associated with past suicide attempts is particularly concerning, given that a 2019 meta-analysis that examined the association between having four or more ACEs and suicide attempt was significantly lower, although compelling,” they wrote. researchers. Those struggling with thoughts of self-harm or suicide can access the confidential Lifeline Crisis online chat at

College entrance exam scores hit a 30-year low Scores on the ACT college admissions test by this year’s high school graduates hit their lowest point in more than 30 years — the latest evidence of massive learning disruption during the pandemic, according to an Associated Press report. The Class of 2022 average ACT composite score was 19.8 out of 36, marking the first time since 1991 that the average score was below 20. Additionally, a growing number of high school students failed to meet any of the subject area benchmarks the ACT — shows a decline in readiness…