'Highly contagious' COVID variant headed to Wisconsin

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The XBB.1.5 COVID variant is easy to catch, and easy to spread, according to local health officials.

Doctor Ben Weston, Chief Health Policy Advisor for Milwaukee County, says the variant is hitting the US east coast right now, but will soon reach Wisconsin.

"There's no doubt that we're going to see a rise in Wisconsin, and we'll see this become the dominant variant in Wisconsin as well," Dr. Weston said.

There may not be a simple, easy way to avoid catching this variant, but Dr. Weston says there is an easy way to avoid getting a severe case of it.

"If you are under 65 and you have gotten your bivalent booster, you're probably in a pretty good spot your chances of getting severe disease, getting hospitalized are quite low," he said.

You may want to avoid international air travel, a study released last week tested wastewater in 29 passenger airplanes in Malaysia and found the COVID virus in nearly all of them.

"Nienty-six percent of planes had COVID in the wastewater. So if you step on a plane, chances are COVID is on that plane as well," Dr. Weston said.

The study has the CDC's attention, who are now looking at testing wastewater in US passenger airplanes.

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