A new COVID-19 variant has emerged, serving as a reminder that the coronavirus continues to mutate and spread around the world, disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations.

The variant is called EG.5 and is a descendant of Omicron.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that EG.5 accounted for roughly 17.3 per cent — or one in six — of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. in the past two weeks.

    • crowsby@kbin.social
      271·
      1 year ago

      This is my issue with the article.

      Headline: Here’s what we know about EG.5 so far

      Body: Apparently not much. We uhh, know the name of it? Severity, how contagious it may be, symptoms, breakthrough rate…like umm, anything??

      • Ben Hur Horse Race@lemm.ee
        7·
        1 year ago

        sick right now in Ireland (can’t be sure but we’re exploding with this variant)

        for me, fatigue, stuffed & runny nose which is making me cough. on day 1 I had a headache but only for that day. I had a fever for about 6 hours. sneezing, gastro fun.

        Wife has a dry cough. she had a wicked fever with chills. also gastro fun, which is fun for me by proxy.

    • Screwthehole@lemmy.worldEnglish
      132·
      1 year ago

      Presumably as a descendent of omicron… It is probably easier to catch and less serious. But you’d think they’d address it…

      • girlfreddy@lemmy.caOP
        161·
        1 year ago

        “I don’t know that it’s time to worry about this (EG.5) just yet. We know very little about this new variant. There’s currently no evidence to suggest that it causes more severe illness. And the CDC is indicating that it does appear to be susceptible to COVID vaccines, which is good news.”

        From an AMA gathering on July 26, (speaker is Andrea Garcia, JD, MPH, vice president, science, medicine & public health, American Medical Association)

        link to PDF here

      • jadero@lemmy.ca
        21·
        1 year ago

        Less serious than what? If my aged brain remembers correctly, Omicron severity is comparable to the original strain, only making it less serious than Delta. As I understand it, the primary factor in reduced severity was that vaccines were available and most people got the vaccine.