SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – The latest omicron variant, XBB.1.5, is making the rounds, as many students enter their first or second week back after the holidays.
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This new variant is reportedly even more transmissible than previous variants, but typically causes less severe illness.
"This virus itself is still a variant of omicron," said Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, a professor of health and infectious diseases, pediatrics, and epidemiology and population health at Stanford University on KCBS Radio’s "Ask an Expert" with Eric Thomas and Margie Shafer on Monday.
"The parent virus has been around with us for more than a year, since last December," she said. "But it is slowly finding a way to become more and more able to get into the population as our immunity goes up."
This new variant of omicron can actually attach itself more tightly than others to respiratory cells, which gives it more time and makes it easier to infect the cell.
"We don't see that it's more virulent or causes more severe disease so that’s one of the good things," said Maldonado. "But it is spreadly pretty rapidly in the U.S."
Right now, about one in five cases popping up are this new variant. In the Bay Area, cases are just starting to rise.
This comes just as children are coming back from the holiday break and returning to school. School districts will need to decide what safety precautions should be taken in the weeks ahead.
Families should exercise some caution with their kids as they head back to class, as much as they can and encourage "respiratory etiquette," which essentially means coughing into your sleeve instead of your hands and not going to school if you feel sick.
This is just one strategy, while another is still tried and true.
"The best thing to do really is consider vaccination," said Maldonado. "I know we've kind of taken that off the table but vaccines are still the best way to prevent a lot of these diseases."
Even before the holidays, there was a surge not only in COVID-19 cases, but also in flu and RSV.
"Fortunately, RSV and flu cases are still around but they're dropping off a little bit," she said. "We're not quite out of the woods yet but we're really not where we were in December."
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