COVID emergency room visits are on the rise in many parts of the US, including Illinois, and a specific new variant appears to be behind the surge. So what are the symptoms?
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a series of COVID-19 variants nicknamed “FLiRT” variants are spreading across the United States.
According to the CDC’s latest mutation tracking data, the variants identified as KP.1.1, KP.3, and KP.2 account for more than 54% of COVID cases in the U.S. KP.3 in particular is the most prevalent variant, accounting for 24.5% of cases, according to the latest data. Predictive data.
Similarly, emergency room visits measured through June 29th indicate an 18% increase in COVID-related visits from the previous week. Illinois was one of the states that saw “significant changes” in the metric from week to week, the data showed. COVID-related emergency room visits in the state increased 29.7% from the previous week, but the total percentage of emergency room visits that were considered COVID visits remained a “minimal” 0.8%.
So what can we expect from the latest strains?
What are COVID FLiRT variants?
These variants are subvariants of JN.1. It became dominant in December 2023 and was classified as a “variant of concern.”However, the “FLiRT” mutant has two changes in the spike protein compared to JN.1.
“Two changes in the spike have been observed in previous lineages, including the XBB.1.5 lineage that predominated throughout 2023 and is the basis of the 2023-2024 vaccine formulation,” the CDC reported.
Health officials said there is no indication that the new strain causes more severe illness than other strains, but “CDC will continue to monitor community transmission of the virus and the effectiveness of vaccines against this strain.”
Meghan L. Ranney, Dean of the Yale School of Public Health He told WebMD Changes in the spike protein are of concern.
Are KP.3 and other FLiRT variants more transmissible?
The KP.3 variant quickly became dominant, overtaking KP.2 as the most prevalent strain in the United States within a matter of weeks, according to the CDC report.
“It’s still early days, but our initial impression is that this variant is quite transmissible,” said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. TODAY.com.
Schaffner said some lab studies suggest the FLiRT variant has mutated enough that immunity from a previous vaccination or previous infection may not confer complete protection.
“We’ll have to see to what extent that’s true, but it does appear that as time goes on it is becoming a more prominent variant,” he told Today.
What are the symptoms?
Dr Lakshmi Harasyamani, chief clinical officer at Endeavour Health, said the main symptoms associated with COVID have not changed despite the spread of the latest variants.
The most common symptoms reported by Harasyamani were primarily related to the respiratory system.
If you suspect you have COVID-19, the CDC says you may experience these symptoms:
- cough
- sore throat
- snot
- sneeze
- Malaise
- headache
- muscle pain
- Changes in the sense of smell
- congestion
- Fever or chills
- Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
- Nausea or vomiting
- diarrhea
Last year, a Chicago-area doctor She said she noticed a change in the most common symptoms She reported that her patient had become dominated by the JN.1 variant.
Dr. Chantelle Tingfang, a family medicine physician at Provident Hospital of Cook County’s Senstac Health Center, noted at the time that many of the cases she saw had few symptoms of fever, body aches, or chills, but more often reported sore throat, fatigue, and cough.
“Some patients experience loss of appetite, loss of taste and smell, so it depends,” she said. “One patient was just extremely tired. She felt like she couldn’t do much. That’s when I realized it wasn’t that. It’s not just coughing and shortness of breath, but those are the symptoms.”
She encouraged people to see a doctor if symptoms don’t improve after the recommended isolation period.
Symptoms may last for a few days, but in some cases may last longer.
According to the CDC, “Some people who are infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 experience long-term effects from the infection, called long COVID or post-COVID status (PCC).”
These symptoms can last for weeks or even years.
