Oct. 28, 2022
Dear Members of the Baylor College of Medicine Community,
The COVID-19 numbers look pretty good, especially in Texas and the Houston area, but the decline in cases and hospitalizations nationally has slowed, suggesting that improvements could stop. This would fall in line with my prediction of a winter surge of Omicron variant cases. We are in a nice lull period now but it will not last.
The thing that has me concerned is less than 10 percent of the population has received the bivalent vaccine booster. That’s the best protection against being infected or re-infected in the coming months and it is widely available.
In this week’s video, you will hear about the new XBB variant of Omicron. XBB is extremely immune-evasive and is surging in Singapore. It is not yet in the United States, but its variant XBB.1 has arrived. XBB.1 was first detected in the U.S. on Sept. 15. Only 16 cases have been diagnosed so far, and most are in New York.
Also this week, I go through the interesting case of Marin County in California. After years of being known for parents who opposed shots for childhood diseases, the county just north of San Francisco has one of the nation’s highest COVID-19 vaccination rates.
Halloween is Monday in Houston, Saturday in Dimmit County and Lily has selected costumes for each place, based on your votes.
Have a great weekend and Go Stros!
Paul Klotman, M.D.
President & CEO
Executive Dean
