The COVID-19 variant EG.5 continues to drive infections in the United States, accounting for nearly 30 percent of all cases for the week ending September 30, according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Nicknamed “Eris,” EG.5 is an offshoot of omicron and has been the dominant variant for weeks.
“Clearly EG.5 is outcompeting the other variants fairly quickly, but based on the data that I have seen, it is less virulent than other variants like delta, which caused a huge amount of mortality,” says Dean Winslow, MD, an infectious-disease specialist and a professor of medicine at Stanford University in California.
The so-called “Fornax” (FL.1.5.1) variant remains the second-most dominant strain, accounting for 13.7 percent of cases.
A still-rare variant, the heavily mutated BA.2.86 (nicknamed “Pirola”), had been raising concerns, but recent research suggests it is much less transmissible than EG.5.
COVID-Related Hospitalizations Are Down, but Deaths Are Still Rising
For the week ending September 23, COVID-19-related hospital admissions decreased about 3 percent percent nationally compared with the week before, with more than 19,000 people newly admitted, according to the CDC COVID Data Tracker. It’s the second week in a row that hospitalizations have declined, after a nine-week stretch of rising rates.
Deaths related to COVID-19 rose slightly, however, increasing 8 percent from the previous week.
Positive COVID-19 test results are beginning to dip. The CDC's latest data, through September 23, shows a test positivity rate of 11.6 percent, a decrease of 1.1 percent from the week prior.
States with the highest percentage of positive COVID-19 tests currently include Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, and Iowa, per the CDC.
COVID-19 Threat Remains Low for Most People
COVID-19 certainly appears to be spreading, but it’s not causing serious illness in large numbers of people as it was earlier in the pandemic.
Even though there has been a surge in hospitalizations, numbers are still low in most of the country, per the CDC. In the newest CDC reporting, COVID-19 was related to 2.7 percent of all deaths in the country.
“Human pathogens [like the COVID virus] tend to evolve in order to more easily spread from person to person, so it’s not a great survival advantage for them to be more lethal,” says Dr. Winslow.
He adds that evidence suggests that vaccination may be preventing a lot of serious illness, hospitalization, and death. Updated vaccines should be effective against circulating coronavirus strains, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Peter Chin-Hong, MD, a professor of medicine at the University of California in San Francisco who specializes in infectious diseases, believes that the new vaccines will be a good match for variants such as EG.5.
“Although the vaccine is based on XBB.1.5, EG.5 is so closely related that the vaccine should provide similar protection,” says Dr. Chin-Hong.
Moderna released study data on September 6 showing that its reformulated COVID-19 shot produced an 8.7- to 11-fold increase in neutralizing antibodies not just against EG.5 but also against FL.1.5.1 and BA.2.86.
People Vulnerable to Severe COVID-19 Should Take Extra Precautions
As the CDC stresses, specific groups of people are more at risk of getting very sick from COVID-19. Adults ages 50 and older are more likely to need hospitalization, intensive care, or a ventilator to help them breathe. Most COVID-related deaths occur in people older than 65.
Individuals who are immunocompromised (have a weakened immune system) because of a medical condition or from immunosuppressive medications or treatments also face greater odds of severe illness, says the CDC. Underlying health conditions such as obesity, chronic pulmonary obstructive disorder, and heart disease heighten this risk as well.
Another group that has weakened defenses against the virus and can become very sick from infections are pregnant individuals and those who were recently pregnant.
Public health authorities advise those at increased risk to talk with a healthcare provider about taking extra precautions, such as wearing a mask, when hospital admission levels in their communities are medium or higher.
What Are the Symptoms of Eris? Should I Get Tested for COVID-19?
To help stop coronavirus spread, especially to these more vulnerable populations, Winslow urges everyone to get tested for COVID-19 if they have upper respiratory symptoms.
“Newer COVID-19 variants have very mild symptoms in general compared with the earlier variants, and can very much mimic the common cold,” Winslow says. Common COVID-19 symptoms include:
· Sore throat
· Runny or stuffy nose
· Sneezing
· Coughing with or without phlegm
· Headache
· Body aches and pains
· An altered sense of smell
“Most of us would want to know if we’re actually infected with COVID-19 so we can be especially careful and maybe avoid elderly relatives and others who are at greater risk of severe illness,” Winslow adds.
Since the nationwide public health emergency due to COVID-19 ended in May of this year, free testing has become harder to find. But the CDC offers an online tool to help people without health insurance find no-cost testing.
Until Next time: Stay Safe, Stay Healthy and be Careful out in the World.
James A Vito, D.M.D.