Doctors are saying that a unique omicron subvariant, XBB.1.16, is growing across the country and might be the source of certain odd symptoms. Social media users have already given the quickly expanding COVID-19 variety the given name Arcturus, following the most brilliant star in the northern celestial hemisphere.
Some specialists are keeping an eye out for a possible rise in cases caused by the extremely infectious “Arcturus” subvariant while the Biden administration gets ready to close the federal COVID-19 public health emergency in the U.S. on May 11.
Based on the most recent statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, XBB.1.16 was responsible for approximately ten percent of cases in the U.S. this past week as changed to roughly 6% the week before.
According to Dr. William Schaffner, head of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, “It has since been transferred extensively and is the 2nd most frequent variation we are observing in the United States.”