The number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in New York City has reached its highest level in almost a year just after a novel, highly transmissible variant of the coronavirus, code XBB.1.5 but also nicknamed Kraken has emerged as the dominant strain of the virus in the northeastern United States, Fortune magazine reported earlier this week.
Statewide COVID-19 hospitalizations currently stand at nearly 4,000, the highest level since February, according to state Health Department statistics. from New York.
“It is unlikely that the XBB.1.5 subvariant is solely responsible for this increase in hospitalizations, considering recent holiday gatherings and other seasonal factors known to drive up case numbers each winter. “, says this report.
However, this progression worries experts because the new variant was recently declared the most transmissible to date by the World Health Organization, but also because the State of New York is known as a leading barometer of the situation of the rest of the country regarding COVID-19, according to the same source.
It is “certainly possible” that the regional increase in the number of hospitalizations heralds a similar development to come in the rest of the country, warns Michael Merson, visiting professor at the School of Global Public Health at New York University, quoted by this report. F
