american thinker

by Pete Colan

    A recent article in Epoch Times (and other news agencies, most of which I don’t read) sounds the alarm on a new COVID variant.  It is named BA.3.2.

    The variant differs from COVID-19 JN.1 strains, including LP.8.1 and XFG, that have been circulating in the United States since January 2024, according to the CDC.

    (I don’t know if maybe George Lucas works for the CDC )

    In case you can’t remember the alphanumeric sequence, this one goes by the name of “Cicada.” Why  I have no idea. The guy who coined the name, T. Ryan Gregory, Ph.D., who is a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Guelph, also coined other variant names like “stratus” and “pirola.” I’m thinking he probably worked for an auto company and named car models before becoming a Ph.D.

    How did they discover BA.3.2 in the United States  Well, if you think your job is bad...someone from the CDC has an even worse job, testing samples from toilets.

    “BA.3.2 was detected in nasal swabs from four travelers, three airplane wastewater samples, clinical samples from five patients, and 132 wastewater samples from 25 U.S. states,” the CDC said in the report, dated March 19.

    How bad is this new variant  Well, they don’t really know. No, really — they have no idea whatsoever.

    But the CDC cautioned that it’s currently unclear whether BA.3.2 can cause more severe illness or have a more significant impact on the U.S. health care system. Furthermore, the agency said there are “at least five limitations” with the report’s findings, including variations in international reporting capacity on COVID-19, the timing of sample collection, and other obstacles.

But apparently this new virus strain is unique (really ) in that it can evade the immunity one has either built naturally or through vaccinations. Now, I may be just an old engineer, but isn’t that how mutating viruses generally work

    Lab studies suggested that the BA.3.2 variant can evade the body’s protective antibodies for COVID-19, according to the CDC, likely due to “spike protein mutations, highlighting the need for ongoing genomic surveillance and observational evaluations of vaccine and antiviral effectiveness.

    Any new COVID-19 variants that display “substantial capacity to evade immunity from previous infections or vaccines could be associated with seasonal increases in COVID-19 activity,” said the CDC, adding that surveillance data will guide the health agency’s responses, preparedness, and decision-making around vaccine boosters.

    Translation: The COVID department at the CDC are trying to justify their existence and want you to know they still have their finger on the COVID panic button.

    Should we run out and buy masks again  Lock yourself inside  Or maybe let data guide us, as we should have done since the beginning  From the article, countries most significantly affected by this new variant that was discovered in 2024 are Japan, Kenya, the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark. Our World in Data shows as much.

    Check out the graph at the link, and you won’t see any spikes there. Nor is the United States looking very different.

    Yes, it is horrible that the world was subjected to this (I believe) man-made evil that has taken a lot of lives. And it is horrible that it is still taking lives. But at this point, so do the flu, pneumonia, and all other common diseases that have been among us for centuries and don’t get headlines.

    As the rate of serious illness and death from COVID is apparently diminishing rapidly, I think we can all breathe a sigh of relief. Without a mask.

    Image via Pixabay.