Post by Admin on Nov 12, 2023 19:31:09 GMT
HV.1 was documented by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in low numbers over the summer. But now the strain has the highest prevalence of any, claiming responsibility for about a quarter of new coronavirus cases in the U.S. as of late October.
The strain is still a subvariant of omicron – as is every strain that’s in circulation. It’s a descendent of EG.5, which is the second most common variant in the U.S. at nearly 22% of new cases, according to estimates from the CDC.
To be sure, health officials aren’t sounding the alarm on the latest variant. That’s because it appears to be very similar to EG.5, also known as “eris.” So similar, in fact, that the World Health Organization doesn’t separate the two in its estimates. Eris is the most prominent strain globally, accounting for about 46% of global cases as of late October, according to WHO. That estimate also includes cases from HV.1 and another similar strain, HK.5.
HV.1 doesn’t appear to cause more severe disease, but it is expected to bring the same high transmissibility that eris has. And with more cases comes more variants with more mutations.
“The concern about the multitude of mutations is that it is likely and it is possible that there's versions of the virus that will be more evasive to the immunity that people have,” says Dr. Perry N. Halkitis, the dean of Rutgers School of Public Health.
However, given how similar HV.1 is to EG.5, the updated coronavirus vaccines are expected to work on the new strain.
But the shot’s advantages are limited by low uptake so far. About 7% of U.S. adults and 2% of children got the new COVID-19 vaccines during the first month it was available, according to national survey data. While the initial rollout was hampered by availability and insurance issues, U.S. health officials say those problems have now mostly been resolved.
The survey also found that nearly 38% of adults and parents said that they probably or definitely won’t get the shot for themselves or their children.
Vaccine fatigue and hesitancy are surely large parts of the uptake problem. There is also a general lack of urgency when it comes to COVID-19 now that vaccines and treatment are widely available.
“We've opened a window of opportunity for people who are resistant to vaccination to begin with to say, ‘Well, it doesn't look so bad anymore, so I'm just going to bypass it.’ Just like how they react to the flu,” Halkitis says.
COVID-19 weekly hospital admissions have been decreasing or stagnant for nearly two months, according to CDC data. But the numbers remain elevated at more than 15,700 new admissions for the last full week in October – more than double summer’s low of about 6,300 in June.
With the late summer wave gone and winter months ahead, experts are anticipating more COVID-19 infections as cold temperatures push people indoors.
“I expect there to be more rapid spread as is the case with any respiratory virus in the winter months,” Halkitis says.
The CDC is predicting a “moderate” COVID-19 wave, according to its respiratory disease season outlook.
“COVID-19 variants continue to emerge but have not resulted in rapid disease surges,” the CDC said in an update to its respiratory disease season outlook published last month. “We continue to anticipate a moderate COVID-19 wave, causing around as many hospitalizations at the peak as occurred at last winter’s peak.”
Experts expect that the group of variants circulating in the U.S. will continue to change as the virus spreads and adapts.
“The more we spread it to each other, the more it's going to keep replicating in people's bodies, the more likely it will be that mutations are going to occur,” Halkitis says.
Tags: Coronavirus
The strain is still a subvariant of omicron – as is every strain that’s in circulation. It’s a descendent of EG.5, which is the second most common variant in the U.S. at nearly 22% of new cases, according to estimates from the CDC.
To be sure, health officials aren’t sounding the alarm on the latest variant. That’s because it appears to be very similar to EG.5, also known as “eris.” So similar, in fact, that the World Health Organization doesn’t separate the two in its estimates. Eris is the most prominent strain globally, accounting for about 46% of global cases as of late October, according to WHO. That estimate also includes cases from HV.1 and another similar strain, HK.5.
HV.1 doesn’t appear to cause more severe disease, but it is expected to bring the same high transmissibility that eris has. And with more cases comes more variants with more mutations.
“The concern about the multitude of mutations is that it is likely and it is possible that there's versions of the virus that will be more evasive to the immunity that people have,” says Dr. Perry N. Halkitis, the dean of Rutgers School of Public Health.
However, given how similar HV.1 is to EG.5, the updated coronavirus vaccines are expected to work on the new strain.
But the shot’s advantages are limited by low uptake so far. About 7% of U.S. adults and 2% of children got the new COVID-19 vaccines during the first month it was available, according to national survey data. While the initial rollout was hampered by availability and insurance issues, U.S. health officials say those problems have now mostly been resolved.
The survey also found that nearly 38% of adults and parents said that they probably or definitely won’t get the shot for themselves or their children.
Vaccine fatigue and hesitancy are surely large parts of the uptake problem. There is also a general lack of urgency when it comes to COVID-19 now that vaccines and treatment are widely available.
“We've opened a window of opportunity for people who are resistant to vaccination to begin with to say, ‘Well, it doesn't look so bad anymore, so I'm just going to bypass it.’ Just like how they react to the flu,” Halkitis says.
COVID-19 weekly hospital admissions have been decreasing or stagnant for nearly two months, according to CDC data. But the numbers remain elevated at more than 15,700 new admissions for the last full week in October – more than double summer’s low of about 6,300 in June.
With the late summer wave gone and winter months ahead, experts are anticipating more COVID-19 infections as cold temperatures push people indoors.
“I expect there to be more rapid spread as is the case with any respiratory virus in the winter months,” Halkitis says.
The CDC is predicting a “moderate” COVID-19 wave, according to its respiratory disease season outlook.
“COVID-19 variants continue to emerge but have not resulted in rapid disease surges,” the CDC said in an update to its respiratory disease season outlook published last month. “We continue to anticipate a moderate COVID-19 wave, causing around as many hospitalizations at the peak as occurred at last winter’s peak.”
Experts expect that the group of variants circulating in the U.S. will continue to change as the virus spreads and adapts.
“The more we spread it to each other, the more it's going to keep replicating in people's bodies, the more likely it will be that mutations are going to occur,” Halkitis says.
Tags: Coronavirus