forget about the bbq, there's a new guy in town

Remember when I was waxing on about the barbeque variants of SARS-CoV-2?

"You mean the coronavirus that causes COVID?"

Well, that virus is the SARS-CoV-2. The variants are all formed when that virus mutates as it assimilates nucleotides from each host.

"And now she's talking chemistry..."

Biochemistry, actually. There are five nucleotides that compose DNA and RNA. Each group of three is termed a codon and those refer to a specific amino acid that's needed for whatever protein is being built. One nucleotide in the wrong place can cause a variety of mutations in the protein under construction, possibly making that protein incapable of performing its function. Now, if that protein is one of the 765 types of immunoglobulins that our body uses as its warriors against invaders, that's when the trouble starts. Failure at that level, when a person becomes immunodeficient, is already documented in many diseases. Long COVID may well be a new immune-deficiency disease, with no easy fix, as it is manifested as a variety of ailments for those infected persons who develop it.

"Great. One more oogie boogie in the woodwork."

Not so much there as in the air we breathe. Saturday, Barbara and I were texting about random topics and COVID came up, as it's a hot one. Here's how the textversation went.

her: I heard about a Harvard study that our noses don't protect us from germs as well when they are cold, partially accounting for the increased number of winter illnesses. Nose mittens? Of course we need to be in masks again. Nobody is safe from the latest variant.

me: Mask is always with me. Hardly ever do i see anyone wearing one, except at the VA and AMC 10. Was at both yesterday [i.e., Friday].

her: I'm seeing more in the few places I go like grocery stores.

me: My ex got it again for Christmas, thought it was a cold until his breath stopped. Still trying to get over it.

her: He most likely got the new variant. No vaccine or prior case is effective. The experts say we're all going to get this variant.

me: Well it's evident that covid is staying a while. At least the vaccine makes it less dangerous and keeps folks out of hospitals. The trick would be to make the vaccine mandatory, like the ones children have to take for school. No polio or measles or mumps now. What is needed is a TRUE vaccine, not a shot of RNA-enhanced immune activator. People forget that what we have is a stop-gap measure, not a vaccine. The media messed that up.

her: It infuriates me that people have made health political. Polio is back among some antivaxers. We can send men to the moon but can't cure the common cold. Who knows what we'll get from all the melting permafrost.

me: You know, I had not equated this virus with that situation. What a kick in the pants that would be if it turned out this virus came from that source. Would not surprise me. This planet is a fairly closed system, much like a science project in a terrarium. What we have is what has always been here, in one form or another.

"Well, there's a thought that's straight out of "The X-files" and scary as hell."

Right? But here's the problem. When Barbara speaks of "this variant", she means the general omicron form that the coronavirus has had for this past year. What she fails to comprehend is that the label "omicron" applies to a wide range of variants, with new ones forming all the time. That's why it's easier to send people to the moon - that's a physics problem, a technology problem, something solvable via math. As for the rhinovirus behind the common cold, that's a form of life. And, just like its bully brother, the SARS-CoV-2, the common cold virus mutates as it goes from host to host. You can't make a vaccine for a bug that changes that rapidly. You have to make smarter people, people who will wash their hands and cover their face with their shirt or sleeve when they cough or sneeze, people who will wear masks and not get up in each other's faces...

"Yeah. Americans have not done too well at following those simple guides."

No one has. That's the simple truth. You expect children to be forgetful and not do those things. But somehow you expect more from adults. It just doesn't happen. Correction: it doesn't happen enough. We all need to be more conscientious of how our actions affect others close to us, whether they be family, friends, or strangers.

"Heard."

Please, don't just hear me... do it. If all the folks in the northeastern states had done so, we wouldn't have this new Omicron variant ramping up all over this country. Here's the hard data to back up my words. See those two lower swaths of color? The pale teal and medium teal? Those are the two BBQ variants of Omicron that were so dominant all around only three weeks ago. Notice that one of those variants (the light teal) is almost gone, meaning it's not the one causing new cases of COVID. But see that growing triangle of purple, up on the upper left? That is the new troublemaker, the new bully in town, XBB.1.5. That's the one that went home for the holidays with so many folks from the New England states.

"And what makes you so sure of that?"

Just look at this diagram. I selected the XBB.1.5 segments of COVID "pie" to be accentuated on the picture. Notice anything telling? Check out the eastern states that are most north. See how the majority of their cases last week are directly attributable to that new strain of the Omicron variant of the initial coronavirus that started it all? Then, as we move west and south from that area, purple wedges are showing up everywhere else. My theory is that those purple wedges will grow in the next two weeks. The question is this: what will be the next mutation to become dominant?

"Yikes. Guess I better get better about the mask thing. I've been a bit lax of late."

I've noticed. The booster of the new "anti-death by COVID" doesn't get administered to my waiting arm until February 9th. You'll notice I didn't call it a 'vaccine' because that is not what it is. It's an alarm bell to wake up our team of immunoglobulins, to raise our warriors to peak alertness to aliens, from wherever they hail, whether that be fallout from the depths of space or released by melting ancient icebergs. Take care... and wash those hands!!!