Bioethicist and Obamacare architect Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel is now telling Americans to start wearing “really high-quality masks” again due to the new covid-19 variant, XXB.1.5.
“It’s spreading very rapidly which means it can evade and outcompete the other subvariants,” he told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell, on Monday. “It seems to avoid the antibodies but also bind more tightly to cells and that gives it the competitive advantage it needs. And unfortunately the antibodies therefore we have from infections or vaccines don’t seem to work. And the monoclonal antibody Evusheld we have, that a lot of immune-compromised patients don’t use doesn’t seem to be working that well.”
“So, is this typical, that the variants keep coming and as infections spread this virus finds new ways to conquer our best efforts?” Mitchell asked.
He replied, “Yes. We do see when the virus spreads to lots more people that you get more variants, because the more it reproduces the higher the chance of a mutation or a recombination event, and that’s actually what’s really concerning about China.”
Emanuel predicted that the new variant will surge in the United States, and also claims that China will be hit hard due to their low immunity.
“They will have a lot of deaths, unfortunately, because of the low immunity they have in the population, but also that with hundreds of millions of people getting infected, likely over the next few weeks, they’re gonna have a lot more variants, and we don’t have a good line of sight into those variants and the genome, and that is what’s worrisome to other countries about the China situation,” he explained.
“A travel ban and the negative test results, they’re just delaying tactics,” Emmanuel added. “They’re trying to get us information; they’re not gonna help. Individually, for your viewers, Andrea, the best thing they can do at the moment, and I know a lot of them are resistant, is masks. N-95, really high quality masks. You can’t control what’s out there in the airports or what’s on a train, or what’s gonna be in a shopping mall, but you can protect yourself with these very high quality masks, and that’s what I recommend. “
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Cue the call for yet ANOTHER booster shot.
