@ryanhisner.bsky.social convinced me. It's the Orf7-8 deletion. This is GW.5.1.1 which had a similar deletion compared to HV.1.1, which circulated at the same time.

I’m amazed. It’s really true: BA.3.2 (new COVID lineage) is infecting children at a much higher rate than previous lineages. I’m late to this party, but I couldn’t really believe it was true until I did the analysis for myself. 1/

The original transposition results in 48 UCP seats and 41 NDP seats The UCP minority's boundary suggestion would be 57 UCP and 32 NDP

Tapping the sign

Ontario primarily sequences samples from the elderly (>50% from 80+) so the numbers in the young are small. Still, we seem the same BA.3.2 pattern: BA.3.2 is only 6.5% of all seqs but 50% of seqs from ages 5-11 & >20% for 0-4 & 12-19. All credit to @paullmma.bsky.social for sharing this data. 1/2

Groundbreaking brand new tool by @mikehoney.bsky.social : FOr the first time we have a pandemic to investigate age preferences of a variant. It is especially relevant now that BA.3.2 shows a marked prevalence in infecting kids.

In the meanwhile @ryanhisner.bsky.social and others discovered some peculiar preference of BA.3.2 toward kids , there is now something new growing apparently fast: it is PQ.16.1.1 with this spike: 22N 59S 184S 253G 417T 420N 435S 456L 478T 493E nextstrain.org/fetch/genome...

The rapid increase in BA.3.2 in New York is in fact driven entirely by infections in children, primarily ages 2-17. Green bar shows how often each age group appears in BA.3.2 vs non-BA.3.2 seqs. Ratio of 1 would mean they appear at equal rates, while 5 means that age appears 5x more often in BA.3.2

No one is protesting Palantir in Canada, even though the OPP has been using it for years, and the federal government is using it too. The Prez of Palantir Canada is our former ambassador to the US, and he chairs the company building the "spa" at Ontario Place. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

In the meanwhile RE.2.5 reaches 33% of NY samples after March 15, guess what? a lot of kids.

As I keep saying, the trick to post-truth authoritarian politics is not changing laws, it’s pretending that existing laws already allow anything. Words don’t have meanings, they’re merely tools to get what you want. If you don’t believe me on this, listen to the foremost practitioner explain it.

please read and consider sharing.

So it's clear that BA.3.2 preferentially infects children, something we have never seen before in a SARS-CoV-2 variant. Why? The question's baffled me, but after a suggestion from @darrenmartin.bsky.social, I think I have an explanation that makes sense. 1/16

To test the impact of corporate bullshit on workers, Littrell developed a "corporate bullshit generator" that generates statements using words such as "growth hack" "bandwidth" and "swim lanes" www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Yay for optimism and all that, but I think we need to really ask if we're putting in place what's needed to stop their resurgence, or just hoping democracies will fix themselves through vibes alone.

Hey leftists, it’s ok to discuss disagreements about strategy, but if you say people who take COVID precautions: - are too scared to leave the house - demand that everyone wear a mask 24/7 - are terrified of a just a "cold" You are using far right anti-science talking points.

Postmedia Network, which owns most of the major dailies in Canada, including eight of the nine largest west of Winnipeg, is 98% owned by US hedge funds, and the founder of the largest by far is an ardent Trump supporter.

A bit more on S:K444N. This mutation grew rapidly during the BA.5 era for a while, but then vanished and rarely appeared again. Why? 1/6

Yikes

While the final outcome for BA.3.2 is uncertain, its distinct characteristics—extensively remodeled/shortened spike NTD & SD1/SD2, novel S2 mutations, & wholesale deletion of ORF7a/7b/8—make it the best candidate for co-dominance we've seen yet, which could mark a new era in SARS-2 evolution. 1/34

Also other backbones get new designations: RC.7.1 has S:A684T after 256L XFG.14.1.9 and QF.7.1 have S:S704L PQ.6.1.1 has the 478T+572I combo as PQ.50.1 and the subbranches of PQ.17.11.2 and PQ.17.11.3 with the last one adding 186L (convergent with LP.8.1)

Many BA.3.2 designations to look at them i suggest to see the "Designated lineages section" at the bottom of the main proposal in this issue that i have just rearranged and sorted correctly github.com/sars-cov-2-v...

Designathlon by @corneliusroemer.bsky.social went on all along Sunday: XGV with a XFG spike XGW with a XFG.6 spike + 1169V SC* is the alias for XFG.6.2.1 XFG.6.2.2(441I) becomes SB.1 with S:ins16KPLF and SB.1.1 adding 435S and 435S is also the key of QY.2.1.1 and SE.2.1 (XFG.3.3.1 + S:N532D)

@corneliusroemer.bsky.social is back and did the usual brutal work on designations for #pango despite the obstacles coming from Gisaid last choices. Worth doing a recap of what has been named today. 1) no new BA.3.2 sublineages. Correct even if i think some will get a further specification soon.

BA.3.2 is slowly creeping up in Ontario.

Big uploads for BA.3.2 today. in extreme synthesis it is around 30% in Luxembourg , France and Italy, around 10% in Ontario and NY at the end of February. Also found in a sequence from Moldova (1/2)

Top oil reserve countries on Earth: 1 - Venezuela ✓ 2- UAE 3 - Iran ✓ 4 - Canada Any questions?

In 2025, GISAID cut off access to many critical SARS-CoV-2 resources, incl. our outbreak.info. A month ago, GISAID leveled accusations against us, Cov-Spectrum, Nextstrain, and members of COG-UK, which are false and misrepresent known facts. Our joint response: blog.outbreak.info/joint-respon...

The GBD was clearly absolutely critical to RFK Jr's rise to become the man leading & destroying the US health system Tucker, the man who have the world the GBD, is the dude who built RFK Jr's cabinet Kulldorff & Bhattacharya were HUGE RFK boosters of course 2/2 www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

Jeff Tucker is the man who gave the world the Great Barrington Declaration: it was his idea, he recruited the authors, he edited the draft, he hosted them at AIER (where he worked), he marketed it, he launched the Brownstone Institute to push it GBD = MAHA/MAGA H/T @adrian7745.bsky.social 1/2

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

Crushing the mRNA industry in the US also probably destroys a bunch of cures for various cancers just as an FYI.

Next pandemic is gonna be lit 🔥 We’ll all be chugging protein drinks and swallowing deworming tablets and talking about “that which cannot be named” while our social media feeds tell us that anyone who died did not do enough push-ups…

4/632 in Ontario after JAN 15 with the three newly uploaded samples . @snpoehlm.bsky.social @josetteschoenma.bsky.social

Ba.3.2 over 25% in January in Netherlands. Ba.3.2.1 still around both in Denmark and Netherlands

BA.3.2 now dominant in Denmark 17/25 spotted first by @josetteschoenma.bsky.social Cc @snpoehlm.bsky.social

FDA is refusing to consider Moderna's mRNA flu vaccine. Yet, as @angierasmussen.bsky.social explains, if we had mRNA vax technology for flu, we might have been able to quickly update this season's shots to cover subclade K before it hit the US. @jackiefmogensen.bsky.social reports @sciam.bsky.social

Every photo from Minneapolis looks like this. Cops decked out with guns and full tac gear facing off against people in bathrobes, parkas, and sweatpants armed only with whistles and cell phones. Yet every verified MAGA chode on X dutifully calls it a riot or violent insurrection.

A SARS-CoV-2 variant-induced NTD-targeting antibody enhances viral infection via a distinctive binding mode journals.plos.org/plospathogen...

The flu and pneumonia kill over 45,000 people a year. Moderna developed a new mRNA flu vaccine for people 50 and older--who are most at risk. Prasad, unilaterally, against the recommendation of experts within the agency, denied Moderna's appplication. www.statnews.com/2026/02/11/m...

Kennedy calls supplements suppressed when they’re nearly completely unregulated. Now, through the MAHA coalition, he’s about to open the door for his supplements-selling friends to make a killing by forcing insurance companies to pay for them. derekberes.substack.com/p/here-comes...

Tonite i have decided to close my X account. It is not possible to live under the direct power of someone who spent his life to destroy our lives. So this is the only place where i will be for any variant update or if anyone needs something.

Man Who Thought Fleetwood Mac’s ‘The Chain’ Was Over In For Thrill Of His Fucking Life https://theonion.com/man-who-thought-fleetwood-macs-the-chain-was-over-in-for-thrill-of-his-fucking-life/

“Pragmatist”? Its too late for that. He is a coward! www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

Double-Pronged Extension Cord xkcd.com/3198/

We found a new (I think) cryptic lineage this week. I know I say this all the time, but this is really weird. Warning, this thread is for nerds only. 1/

Tom Suozzi represents the NY-3 district on northwestern Long Island. If there's any mayor or town council member in Syosset or Great Neck or wherever who wants to make their move, this is the time. Denounce this vote, promise you'd stand up to the goons, and you'd raise a million in a week.

If Microsoft Teams were a person I think it should be legal to kill it

RFK Jr. appointee Kirk Milhoan has just clearly stated, out loud, that he wants to experiment on the people of the United States by seeing what happens as vaccination coverage plummets and infectious diseases spread.

Ottawa WAVE (Wastewater Analytics for Viral Epidemiology) as of Jan 18. LEFT IMAGE: 7d trendline of SARS-CoV-2 signal since spring 2020 (A); Past year (B), and 2 months (C), inferred case incidence (D), and Reff (E) determined with ern (PMID: 38905266). RIGHT IMAGE: other viral traces