Rapid Shift from SARS-CoV-2 Delta to Omicron Sub-Variants within a Dynamic Southern U.S. Borderplex.

COVID-19, caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), remains an ongoing global health challenge. This study analyzed 3641 SARS-CoV-2 positive samples from the El Paso, Texas, community and hospitalized patients over 48 weeks from Fall 2021 to Summer 2022. The binational community along the U.S. southern border was predominantly SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant (B.1.617.2) positive for a 5-week period from September 2021 to January 2022 and quickly transitioned to the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529), which was first detected at the end of December 2021. Omicron replaced Delta as the predominant detectable variant in the community and was associated with a sharp increase in COVID-19 positivity rate, related hospitalizations, and newly reported cases. In this study, Omicron BA.1, BA.4, and BA.5 variants were overwhelmingly associated with S-gene dropout by qRT-PCR analysis unlike the Delta and Omicron BA.2 variants. The study reveals that a dominant variant, like Delta, can be rapidly replaced by a more transmissible variant, like Omicron, within a dynamic metropolitan border city, necessitating enhanced monitoring, readiness, and response from public health officials and healthcare workers.

The Many Faces of JAKs and STATs Within the COVID-19 Storm.

The positive-sense single stranded RNA virus, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), resulted in a global pandemic with horrendous health and economic consequences not seen in a century. At a finer scale, immunologically, many of these devastating effects by SARS-CoV-2 can be traced to a "cytokine storm" resulting in the simultaneous activation of Janus Kinases (JAKs) and Signal Transducers and Activators of Transcription (STAT) proteins downstream of the many cytokine receptor families triggered by elevated cytokines found in Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). In this report, cytokines found in the storm are discussed in relation to the JAK-STAT pathway in response to SARS-CoV-2 and the lessons learned from RNA viruses and previous Coronaviruses (CoVs). Therapeutic strategies to counteract the SARS-CoV-2 mediated storm are discussed with an emphasis on cell signaling and JAK inhibition.