In news that no one wanted to hear, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced on Wednesday that a new COVID-19 variant, dubbed EG.5, is on the rise and leading to a spike in infections and hospitalizations amongst U.S. residents.
Currently, the EG.5 variant is responsible for approximately 17 percent of new COVID-19 cases nationwide, in contrast with the previous XBB.1.16 variant – next most common lineage and essentially the new strain’s “parent” – which is responsible for 16 percent of new cases, the CDC says.
EG.5 Is considered an incremental evolution of the XBB recombinant strain of the Omicron family, as opposed to an entirely new version of the virus such as the original Omicron strain.
EG.5 – and it’s quickly-produced offshoot, EG.5.1 – are both spreading rapidly, leading experts to worry that it may possess some sort of evolutionary edge that is making it more contagious than previous variants.
However, while EG.5 is proving to be more contagious, experts are saying that the symptoms that it is producing in those infected don’t appear to be any more serious than previous strains, despite the current increase in hospitalizations.
In addition to spreading in the United States, the infection rate of EG .5 is also said to be growing quickly in Ireland, France, the UK, Japan and China, leading to the World Health Organization to consider it a “variant of interest” worthy of additional tracking and study.
