tThe COVID-19 pause in the U.S. could soon come to an end as a new family of SARS-CoV-2 variants, dubbed “FLiRT” variants, begin to spread across the country.
These variants are distant relatives of Omicron that emerged from JN.1, the variant behind the surge in cases last winter. They have been named “FLiRT” variants based on the technical names of their mutations, one of which includes the letters “F” and “L,” and another of which includes the letters “R” and “T.”
Within the FLiRT family, one variant in particular has risen to prominence: KP.2, which accounted for about 25% of new cases sequenced during the two weeks ending April 27. according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Other FLiRT variants, including KP.1.1, have not yet become as widespread in the US.
Researchers are still learning about the FLiRT variants and many questions remain about how quickly they will spread, whether they will cause more or less severe illness than we have seen before, and how well vaccines will resist them. This is what we know so far.
Is another wave of COVID-19 coming?
Despite the rise of KP.2 in the U.S., it’s too early to say whether the FLiRT family will be responsible for a major increase in cases, says Dr. Eric Topol, executive vice president of Scripps Research, who wrote about the variants FLiRT in a recent edition of your newsletter. For now, the amount of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in US wastewater remains “minimal.” According to the Centers for Disease Control and Preventionand hospitalizations and deaths have also continued to decline steadily from their recent highs in January. GloballyThe number of cases increased from early to mid-April, but remains much lower than a few months ago.
KP.2 and its relatives are likely to cause a spike in cases, but “my hunch is it won’t be a big wave,” Topol says. “It could be a wavelet.” This is because people who were recently infected by the JN.1 variant appear to have some protection against reinfection, Topol says, and the virus has not mutated enough to become wildly different from previous strains. A recent study by researchers from Japan, which was published online before being peer-reviewed, also found that KP.2 is less infectious than JN.1.
Do the vaccines protect against KP.2 and other FLiRT variants?
Vaccines continue to provide good protection against COVID-19-related hospitalization and death. But two preliminary studies, the one from Japan and the another from researchers in Chinawhich was also published online before being peer-reviewed, suggest that FLiRT variants may be better at dodging immune protection from vaccines than JN.1.
“That’s not good,” Topol says, especially since many people who received the most recent booster dose (approximately 30% of adults in the US– he got it last fall, which means his protection has begun to wane.
In to the statement of April 26, the World Health Organization recommended basing future vaccine formulations on the JN.1 lineage, as it appears the virus will continue to evolve from that variant. The most recent booster was based on an older strain, XBB.1.5.
How can I stay safe from new variants of COVID-19?
The virus continues to evolve, but public health advice remains the same: stay up to date on vaccinations, test before gatherings, stay home when sick, and consider wearing a mask and avoiding crowded indoor areas, especially when it’s crowded. COVID. -19 is going around.