COVID hospitalizations in the US have increased by 16.1% in the past week as a new “escaped” strain of the virus has continued to spread across the country.
The new variant is officially called “XBB.1.5”, but you can simply call it ‘Kraken’, a name given by Canadian biologist Dr. Ryan Grefory. According to the World Health Organization, it’s the most contagious COVID variant yet.
We still don’t know exactly the evolutionary process of the new strain, but WHO’s technical advisory group is currently drawing up a risk assessment of the new mutant variant. Scientists became concerned about Kraken at the end of last year as the number of XBB increased. 1.5 cases in the US spiked from 1% of all cases at the beginning of December to 41% just three weeks later.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a statement this week saying Kraken cases accounted for almost 75% of all infections in regions 1 and 2, which include Maine, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, New York, Puerto Rico, New Jersey, and the US Virgin Islands.
A new Kraken COVID variant is causing concern as it binds tightly upon contact with a cell, WHO officials added, which means the virus is able to replicate easily in a host.
Dr. Raj Rajnarayanan, associate professor and assistant dean of research at the New York Institute of Technology, said that the best way to fight against mutations is to get a booster vaccination.
What are the symptoms of the new variant?
9 thoughts on “New COVID Strain ‘Kraken’ Spreads: 9 Most Common Symptoms”
Is there a booster shot available yet
Is there a new booster shot for the new covid variant
Wake up! These viruses happen before elections! Bossters do not help at all. Better if you have a natural immunity then you do not need that BOOSTER every 6 months. Man made virus even Pfizer was plotting to modify Covid to sell more Boosters. Please start reading for yourself. I learned in 1983 that Gene Splicing was in effect on RNA.
AMEN!!!
Thanks for the information,,
well u wrote of nine symptons .besides getting a booster shot is there anything else to do that will help lessen the severity 0fare Kracken infection….Plus what are effective treatments for this strain???. plus are people like me 80 yr old man 4 stroke survivor just gonna say adios??how dangerous is the Kracken any trends … are masks any help?. should masks be worn in public places???..
Apparently the symptoms are the same symptoms we’ve dealt with from the beginning of our interaction with COVID. Nothing atypical at all in terms of symptoms, only in terms of its greatly enhanced transmissibility. And we still have no specific therapy available for ANY of the variants. So knowing which one it is doesn’t particularly help anything.
Welcome to the joys of epidemiology!, my favorite subject in my medical training.
–Kind regards, Susan Root, MD, MPH
My preferred therapy is ivermectin. Prescribed by my doctor. Effective with no side effects. Greatly reduces symptons.
There are those who blame former President Trump for the million-plus American deaths from COVID-19, but that is not really true. The true blame for all those deaths belongs to our medical establishment, for rejecting the scientifically proven cure for ALL corona viruses (which I call the “Cathcart titration methodology”, developed by Robert Cathcart during the 1970’s). That method has been shown, for now fifty years and through millions of human clinical trials, to emulate evolution’s (nature’s/God’s) perfect cure for viral infections (100 percent safe and 100% effective) as has been used by virtually all animals (except in guinea pigs, and a few species of primates and bats) for many millions of years. I have more recently used it successfully for COVID-19, which should not be fatal except that medical “science” rejects valid science due to a foolish misconception about how to evaluate science, which shows how human fallacies have flavored science into a subjective (opinion-based) endeavor. But in fact, vaccines will help given the foolishness of our institutions and leaders.