A newly identified Covid variant, named ‘Eris’, has taken center stage in the United States as it surges ahead as the dominant strain. This shift might offer insight into the recent rise in infection rates, marking a departure from the trend observed earlier this year.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an announcement on Friday, highlighting that the Omicron subvariant EG.5, affectionately dubbed ‘Eris’, is now responsible for over one in six Covid cases. This prevalence surpasses all other variants, making it a notable cause for the recent uptick in cases.
Health experts have underscored the rapid proliferation of EG.5 globally, attributed in part to a “slightly beneficial mutation” that appears to enhance its transmission compared to its counterparts. Despite the 12 percent rise in Covid-related hospitalizations from mid-July to late July, it’s important to note that current Covid rates remain at historic lows. Concurrently, recent fatalities have plateaued, reaching their lowest point since the pandemic’s inception, hovering around 500 deaths per week.
In contrast, the peak of the pandemic in January 2022 witnessed hospitalizations soaring to a staggering 150,674. Similarly, during the same period the prior year, hospitalizations were moderately lower, tallying slightly above 44,000.
The emergence of EG.5, initially accounting for 7.5 percent of Covid cases in the first week of July, has seen its prevalence skyrocket to 17.3 percent. Some health experts posit that this recent surge could be correlated with the rush to attend events like Barbie and Oppenheimer, potentially fostering close contacts in crowded venues. However, establishing a causal relationship necessitates more time as it takes weeks for infections to manifest in hospitalizations.
Following EG.5, the other prominent variants include XBB.1.16 at 15.6 percent, XBB.2.23 at 11.2 percent, and XBB.1.5 at 10.3 percent. Notably, EG.5 shares characteristics with several other variants akin to Omicron, all of which are competing for prevalence. All these strains stem from the XBB lineage, the target of forthcoming Covid shots this fall.
Elevating concerns, EG.5 has been flagged by the World Health Organization, designated as ‘E.G5#’, an umbrella term encompassing the E.G5 lineage. Officials have expressed a growing challenge in detecting virus changes due to reduced surveillance. Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization’s technical lead for Covid, emphasized the continuous importance of surveillance and sequencing to keep pace with the ever-evolving virus landscape.
The CDC shifted its variant reporting schedule from weekly to bi-weekly earlier this year, aiming to achieve more comprehensive sample sizes for accurate projections. In a notable shift, the agency recently refrained from releasing ‘Nowcast’ projections for EG.5 hotspots due to insufficient data, limiting estimates to only three regions near California, Georgia, and New York.
The moniker ‘Eris’ was informally bestowed upon the variant by biology professor T. Ryan Gregory, swiftly gaining traction on social media. Estimates suggest that approximately 96 percent of Americans possess some degree of immunity to Covid, stemming from prior infections and vaccinations.
Source: CDC, Daily Mail UK