Get out your bingo cards. Did you have Kraken on there? It’s been released, and it’s time to start worrying like it’s 2020 all over again.
By Kraken, we don’t mean the giant mythical sea monster. Instead, we mean a new and highly contagious version of COVID. It’s also known as the XBB.1.5 variant, and it has evolved from a few of the other variants.
What We Know About the Kraken Variant
The Kraken variant has been running rampant throughout Asia and the UK – and it’s already showing up in various regions of the US.
Hospitalization rates are on the rise for those affected by this variant. It’s also more commonly affecting those 70 and above, similar to what the original COVID-19 virus was capable of.
The variant is also considered to be more transmissible. Over 27% of the new infections around the US in the past week were associated with the Kraken, and the infections are doubling in some areas, showing that it’s spreading quickly.
Within the next few weeks, it is likely to spread across the Midwest. We’re already seeing infection rates and hospital admission rates on the rise in the east. Texas and California, too, are seeing a rise.
What We Should Worry About
The Democrats love a reason to take control. We’ve seen how they locked us down in 2020 and 2021. If the hospital rates rise to the point that there are few beds left, it could be done as a “reasonable protection measure.”
We’ve seen for a while that vaccines are not providing the level of protection that we were initially promised. As such, we can no longer rely on being vaccinated as a layer of protection.
What do we do now? Wash your hands, stay home if you’re sick, and potentially wear a mask in public places. It’s a watch-and-wait situation at the moment. Hopefully, the liberals won’t make a power grab with the Kraken on the loose.
