let's talk about x bb, let's talk about you and me

I think I'd like a bit of Salt'N'Pepa with that order, please!

Might as well make it spicy, right?

"Let's talk about x bb,

let's talk about you and me,

let's talk about all the good things

and the bad things

that may be."

 

Hard to believe it's been 32 years since "Let's Talk About Sex" hit the airwaves.

Now, we have something else speeding through the air.

Ah, yeah, and it's faster than a speeding bullet ...

well, maybe not, but it does seem to be traveling on planes.

How else to explain how the XBB.1.5 strain, which began in the northeast of this country, has spread so effectively west?

Remember, I'd introduced it after the first week of this month.

I'd even postulated that its origins were in the Great White North of the USA, with folks there carrying it home all over the country for Christmas.

Well, my theory was correct.

 

I can't say I'm happy about being right on this, but, what the heck.

Those purple pieces of pie don't lie.

The New England states are plum eat up with that shade, looking more like a new version of Pac-Man gobbling up the area.

(Yeah, a bit of humor, a little joke, and maybe a small pun to make the medicine go down.)

As travel pushed into the other regions on the map, the tiny slivers of purple have morphed into definite dessert-sized slices of pie.

 

Here's the table of SARS-CoV-2 omicron variants responsible for the recent cases of COVID.

My thanks to the CDC for making that map and this table.

Tracking from week to week since the past three months, it clearly shows the changing of the guard, so to speak, from one dominant strain to another.

I want to emphasize one thing: all of this data is for the omicron form of the virus.

The table bears witness that this form of the virus is clearly as malleable as the rhinovirus that brings us the common cold every year...

every year...

so the best we can do is pump up our immune system's warriors by showing them the general identity of the invader.

Namely, be sure to keep up with the mRNA boosters make sure to eat protein.

So what does the table show?

In October and much of November, the BA.5 was dominant.

That gave way over the holidays to the "barbeque" siblings, BQ.1 and BQ.1.1, until after Thanksgiving and Christmas were almost done.

That's when the XBB.1.5 stepped in...

and, as is clear, it has quick-stepped its way to the top of the charts for most hits.

I get my Omicron booster on February 2.

I've been waiting since the second week of December, when I had my PCP appointment and made the list for the 'vaccine'.

I am so ready for it.

 

I'm back!

I took a break from this serious talk for a bit of British fun.

Specifically, it was time for "Shakespeare & Hathaway"!

This week's episode dealt with a race-car driver getting killed and the disappearance of his vintage car.

Lucky me!

Their assistant, a Sebastian of all trades and thespian by training, was all dolled up like a rock star from 1968...

just like Elvis, from the black leather suit to the sideburns and curl in the middle of his forehead!

Such a treat!

So, on that high note, I'm off!

Toodle-oo!