Bad SORE Throat? Worry About NIMBUS – the Latest COVID-19 Variant!

How would you know if your symptoms are due to a summer cold or the latest COVID variant? I know that you do not want to read any more about COVID-19. I suspect that you threw away your mask(s) long ago. Ditto for your COVID-19 test kit(s). Everywhere we go we see people acting as if this infection is long gone and will never reappear. And yet we keep hearing that friends and family members are still coming down with COVID, some for the very first time. The latest COVID-19 variant has been surging in China, other parts of Asia and Europe. It is now spreading fast in the US. This subvariant is called Nimbus!

What Is the Latest COVID-19 Variant?

Experts call the new subvariant NB.1.8.1. It has been nicknamed Nimbus, after the dark and ominous clouds that portend heavy rain. Research suggests that this SARS-CoV-2 version grabs on firmly to the ACE2 receptor. A lot of people complain of a severe sore throat that accompanies infection with NB.1.8.1. That’s why this version of COVID-19 has a distinct “razor blade throat” description. It makes it hard to swallow. Other symptoms relate to the gastrointestinal tract.

GI Complications To Watch Out For:

• Digesstive distress/discomfort
• Diarrhea
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Indigestion
• Bloating
• Constipation

And of course there are all the other COVID symptoms including, runny nose, cough, headache, fever, fatigue and shortness of breath. Since it is unlikely that you will be testing, respond to such an infection as if it were COVID. That’s because it probably is. If you still have some COVID tests, please use them if you have some of the symptoms mentioned, especially the sore throat or GI complaints crop up.

What, Me Worry?

If you are of a certain age you may remember the cartoon character Alfred E. Neuman from Mad magazine. His motto was:

“What, me worry?”

Some have interpreted this to mean that we should not bother ourselves of possible problems. An awful lot of people have adopted the same “What, me worry?” attitude towards COVID. If they get symptoms, they ignore them and just keep on truckin and spreadin.

How Do We Know It’s the Latest Covid-19 Variant?

The CDC’s airport screening program detected cases entering the US starting in late March and early April. By now, it is spreading among people here, and wastewater testing is detecting NB.1.8.1. It is more transmissible than previous variants, including Omicron, although it has not yet displaced them in CDC test results.

Most people think that the summer is safe. There is no influenza! Colds and other upper respiratory tract infections seem to be winter health problems. But COVID-19 spikes in the summer for reasons I do not understand. Every summer since 2020 brings back a surge in COVID cases.

Keep in mind, however, that the CDC is no longer tracking tests closely and states have mostly shut down their COVID-19 surveillance. As we just noted, most people no longer want to hear about this virus. Public health officials in Hong Kong say they don’t think it results in more severe infections, just a lot more infections overall. That has boosted the number of hospitalizations in China and might do so here as well.

Is COVID-19 Gone?

Even though we are no longer in a pandemic, COVID-19 is still killing 200-300 Americans each week. That’s a lot less than the tens of thousands of deaths that occurred weekly at the height of the pandemic. Immunity after vaccination or even infection does wear off, and many people are avoiding COVID-19 boosters. This fall, even people who will want a booster may not be able to get it, as the government is placing restrictions on eligibility.

Antiviral treatments such as Paxlovid or molnupiravir can reduce the risk of complications and death, but they must be taken early in the infection to be helpful. Two things everyone could do to help reduce the spread of the virus is likely to be unpopular: stay home or wear a mask when you are sick. Whether the infection is COVID-19 or a summer cold, wearing a mask in public can keep people from spreading germs to others.

What Should You Call the Latest COVID-19 Variant?

If you have lost count of variant names, it is hardly surprising. The challenges of following technical nomenclature has led researchers to develop creative names such as Centaurus, Kraken and Eris. Those are a bit more memorable than JN.1, B.1.1.7 or XBB.1.5. But even those nicknames have proliferated so fast it has been hard to keep up. Nimbus is just the latest of a long line of subvariants. There will likely be more.

What Should We Do About JN.1?

We offered these recommendations back in 2023. They still hold up as reasonable when COVID-19 cases start to climb. Keep that in mind for the coming weeks or months.

• Stay home if you are sick;
• Wear an effective mask if you are inside with other people;
• Improve ventilation as much as possible;
• Wash your hands.
• Consider vaccination

For people who believe the mRNA vaccines are a problem, there is the Novavax COVID-19 vaccine. It utilizes a very old technology that has been around for decades.

The company calls it an adjuvanted vaccine. It does not use aluminum or mercury (ingredients that we worry about a lot). Instead, the Matrix-M adjuvant comes from the bark of the Soapbox (Quillaja saponaria) tree.

An adjuvant boosts the body’s immune reaction to the vaccine. You can read more about Matrix-M adjuvanted vaccines in the journal Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics (April 27, 2023).

Why Should You Care About the Latest COVID-19 Variant?

A lot of visitors to this website still maintain that COVID is just not a big deal. They keep repeating that it is no worse than a bout of the flu.

I won’t beat around the bush. That is just BS. COVID has left a trail of tears in its wake, and I am not just referring to all the deaths. Millions of people are now  struggling with long COVID symptoms. Try telling them their symptoms should be no worse than a short bout of influenza.

A study published in the Lancet (Dec. 14, 2023) concludes:

“In this comparative analysis of long-term health outcomes of people admitted to hospital for COVID-19 versus those admitted to hospital for seasonal influenza, we show that the absolute rates of death, adverse health outcomes, and health-care utilisation are high for both viruses, but significantly higher for COVID-19 compared to seasonal influenza.

“Our results show that, compared to seasonal influenza and despite changes in SARS-CoV-2 during the course of the pandemic (from pre-delta to delta to omicron), COVID-19 yielded a significantly higher burden of death, health loss across the spectrum of nine of ten organ systems (with the notable exception of pulmonary outcomes), and health-care utilisation.”

That’s a lot of medicalese. The bottom line is that COVID-19 is much worse than influenza! And long COVID can cause long-lasting brain fog, cardiovascular complications (including stroke), fatigue, shortness of breath, inability to exercise and so much more. I worry a lot about long-term neurological complications. Will people who caught COVID be at higher risk for dementia down the road? We won’t have an answer to that question for decades.