Covid Eris: What to know about new variant EG.5 dominating U.S. cases
https://www.reuters.com/world/what-is-eris-new-covid-variant-2023-08-14/
COVID infections and hospitalizations are on the rise in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Health officials are pointing at the EG.5 "Eris" coronavirus, a subvariant of the Omicron lineage that originally emerged November of 2021.
Still, the WHO said at this time it does not seem to pose more of a threat to public health than other variants and that there "is no evidence of an increase in disease severity directly associated with EG.5."
HOW FAST IS 'ERIS' SPREADING?
EG.5 had been found in more than 50 countries as of August 8, according to the WHO. It is the most common and fastest growing COVID-19 subvariant in the U.S., estimated to be responsible for around 17% of current COVID cases, according to the CDC.
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WHEN WILL THE NEW BOOSTER BE AVAILABLE?
Pfizer (PFE.N)/BioNTech SE (22UAy.DE), Moderna (MRNA.O) and Novavax (NVAX.O) have all created new versions of their vaccines updated to target another Omicron sublineage - XBB.1.5 - to more closely resemble the various circulating strains of the virus.
EG.5 is similar to XBB.1.5 although the newer subvariant carries one mutation to its spike protein, the part of the virus targeted by the vaccine.
XBB.1.5 emerged in late 2022 and was still responsible for more than 10% of infections as of August 5, per CDC estimates. CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen said in a recent interview that she expects the new vaccines to be widely available in the U.S. by the third or fourth week in September.
https://www.today.com/health/coronavirus/eris-eg5-covid-subvariant-symptoms-rcna98833
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Eris accounted for an estimated 17.3% of new COVID cases during the first week in August, per the CDC. It surpassed XBB.1.16, which accounted for 15.1%, followed by XBB.2.3's 11.2%. Eris' prevalence increased from about 12% two weeks prior, CDC data show.
COVID hospitalizations in the U.S. have also been increasing over the past month, according to CDC data. For the week ending on Aug. 5, there were 10,320 new hospitalizations due to COVID-19, compared to 9,026 the prior week, 8,052 the week before that and 7,169 for the week ending July 15.
COVID hospitalizations have not been as high as they were in early August since April. That said, the death rate due to COVID is still decreasing week by week, per CDC data.
