The Low Down on the new JN.1 COVID Threat

New Covid variant JN.1, that has been causing a spike in cases in US since September this year, and more lately seems to be sweeping across Singapore, has now been detected in India.

While it's not clear if JN.1 variant is a cause of worry yet, India, has witnessed a spike in infection numbers.  According to Dr Nitish Dogra, physician of Public Health, “Kerala has become a hotspot of covid outbreak, again. With high literacy rates and advanced healthcare systems, Kerala's disease surveillance is stronger, making it one of the first to report.”  So other states may have more cases, we just don’t know it yet.

While JN.1 resembles other upper respiratory infections caused by seasonal viruses, I believe that there is a strong compelling reason to put measures in place to prevent this from running through the population.

What we do know is that JN.1 is highly transmissible, and not a serious threat, however, what we do not know is the additional risk created of Long Covid through reinfection.  With Long COVID, you may have had brain fog and fatigue but not dysautonomia or other manifestations. Long Covid is a broad basket of conditions.

Long Covid does not seem to be self-resolving, in the sense of spontaneous recovery or recovery in the absence of a cure or a treatment that’s been validated.

Hence, it raises the importance of either finding a treatment or preventing reinfections by adopting N95 masks, social distancing, hand washing, etc.  My limited good sense tells me that Public Health measures should be enforced in all public places even for the healthy population.  When it comes to personal health, always, plan for the worst!