LOS ANGELES — The latest omicron subvariant — perhaps the most infectious yet — has gained a foothold in California, a potentially problematic development given the possibility of a post-holiday spike.
However, it’s unclear whether the circulation of this latest strain, XBB.1.5, will alter the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A slew of alphanumerically designated coronavirus subvariants, each more easily spread than the last, surfaced last year. Those emergent strains, while disruptive, did not come close to spawning the same sort of devastation seen in earlier waves.
