What to know about EG.5, the new COVID variant hitting the US

(NewsNation) — A new COVID-19 variant, EG.5, informally known as Eris, is now the dominant COVID-19 variant in the U.S. as reports of cases and hospitalizations also rise.

While the public health emergency for COVID-19 has officially ended and many people have gone back to pre-pandemic routines, the virus is still circulating. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates the strain is responsible for roughly 17% of new infections. It’s difficult to determine exactly how many because the agency is no longer tracking COVID cases.

The EG.5 variant is a subvariant of the omicron strain. So far, there’s no evidence that it causes more severe illness than other variants.

The CDC told Politico there’s no reason to believe that Eris spreads more easily than other variants. The agency has also indicated vaccines are effective against it. However, public health officials in other countries have indicated the virus is both more infectious and more easily able to evade immunity from vaccines or prior infections.

The World Health Organization also released an analysis of the variant Wednesday, suggesting Eris does have some immune escape characteristics that could cause a rise in cases.

Others, however, have attributed the recent surge to changes in behavior, including travel, school starting up and heat waves driving people into air-conditioned spaces, where recirculated air can spread the virus.

Symptom-wise, EG.5 appears to be at least somewhat similar to other variants. Symptoms include cough, fever, shortness of breath, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headaches, and a loss of taste or smell. But there are signs the new variant may include a runny nose, sore throat, congestion and sneezing, which have not been common symptoms of earlier variants.

One reason it’s challenging for scientists to fully understand Eris is the rise in at-home testing. As fewer people get PCR tests, there are fewer samples for researchers to get genetic sequences from to better understand the virus.

At-home testing and the decline of official tracking also means that case counts are likely higher than reported. It’s also unclear how the EG.5 variant could impact long COVID. Even those with mild or asymptomatic COVID can develop long COVID, which is already estimated to affect up to 23 million Americans.

The good news is health officials are optimistic that a new COVID-19 booster set to be released this fall will provide additional protection against new variants, including Eris. The Food and Drug Administration and the CDC expect the additional shot to be available around early October.

As case counts are up again, COVID precautions remain the same as earlier in the pandemic, especially for those who are at high risk for severe illness. The best ways to prevent COVID include staying up to date on vaccines and boosters, social distancing in public and wearing a N95 or KN95 mask.