The US experienced a significant Covid-19 surge due to the new FLirT variants, which caused mostly mild symptoms. The FDA hinted at releasing updated strain-matched vaccines soon. The FLirT variants showed improved transmissibility and represented a substantial portion of recent infections. Despite the ongoing threat, vaccination and acquired immunity helped mitigate severe symptoms, especially for vulnerable groups.
The US is in the middle of one of its biggest Covid-19 wave since January this year, triggered by FLirT variants that mostly have mild symptoms.
However, the good news is that The Food and Drug Administration may come up with this year’s strain-matched Covid-19 vaccines as early as this week, reported CNN citing unnamed officials familiar with the matter.
"At this point, COVID-19 can be described as endemic throughout the world," Aron Hall, deputy director for science at the CDC's coronavirus and other respiratory viruses division, told NPR.
Covid-19 has gained the reputation of constantly evolving itself to gain the ability to infect more people and evade immunity acquired by infections of that of vaccine. Its latest avatar has been dubbed as FLirT variant, which is the combined name for KP.3, KP.3.1.1. and KP.2 sub variants. All of these are the descendants of the JN. 1 variant, but are armed with fresh mutations that improve their transmissibility.
The US has been tracking the spread of Covid-19 infection with its wastewater sample. As per CDC data, KP.3.1.1 variant makes up for nearly 37% of the cases, while KP.3 is found in 17% of cases.
The FLirT variants that belong to Omicron lineage show milder symptoms compared to Covid's original variant. The symptoms associated with FLirT variants are similar to those of JN.1 and can manifest between two to 14 days after exposure.
Symptoms of FlirT variant
Fever, cough, fatigue, loss of smell or taste, are some of the
symptoms described by the Johns Hopkins University. On the CDC's website, symptoms
can range in severity from mild to severe and can appear two to 14 days after a
viral exposure.
Other symptoms include shortness of breath, muscle aches,
headache, sore throat, congestion, runny nose, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, as
per health experts.
While the Covid threat continues to lurk, the symptoms that are being noticed in the current wave are mostly mild.
On a positive side, years of pandemic and vaccination coverage has enabled people to fight off a Covid infection without fear of severe symptoms.
Elderly and people with comorbidities still need to be cautious about Covid, as the vulnerable groups are more at risk of getting severe disease and need to keep up with their boosters for avoiding infection.
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