Like the weather, our health and wellness priorities shift with every season. During the summer months, we become so intent on preventing heat stroke, sun poisoning, and dehydration that we often forget it’s still possible to catch COVID-19, too. As a matter of fact, health officials are urging eligible Americans to get the updated 2024-2025 coronavirus vaccine in the wake of a recent summer COVID surge that’s sweeping across America.
A new data report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that more than 70 percent of new illnesses derive from the JN.1 strain, which is a subvariant of Omicron. The JN.1 strain belongs to a new set of fast-spreading and highly contagious COVID variants—including strains KP.1.1, KP.2, and KP.3—nicknamed FLiRT for short.
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“We are likely seeing a surge right now as the most widely circulating variants, the FLiRT variants, have mutated and further evaded the immune system coupled with waning immunity in general,” Ashley L. Drews, MD, an epidemiologist at Houston Methodist, told Parade.
As positive COVID test rates and emergency room visits continue to increase due to the new FLiRT variants, the CDC has begun analyzing wastewater samples to better understand the severity or likelihood of a potential COVID outbreak in certain regions.
According to the CDC, “sewage can be tested to detect traces of infectious diseases circulating in a community, even if people don’t have symptoms.” Health experts then use this data “as an early warning that levels of infections may be increasing or decreasing in [a] community.”
Unfortunately, CDC findings show that the wastewater viral activity level for COVID-19 is high across the country. However, the CDC reports that levels are “very high” in California, Oregon, Nevada, Texas, Arkansas, Florida, and Maryland.
These seven states were also highlighted in a July 9 report from the CDC in which the agency identified 45 states where COVID-19 infections are “growing or likely growing.” It should also be noted that the CDC found no states with “declining or likely declining” cases of COVID.
RELATED: Doctors Have 3 Big Concerns About the Summer COVID Surge.
Similar to other COVID strains, symptoms of the FLiRT variants include body chills, headaches, nausea, diarrhea, shortness of breath, and fatigue. However, the most common symptom is a scratchy, sore throat.
"Unfortunately one of the most common COVID symptoms currently seems to be a sore throat with or without a mild fever. I say unfortunately because—of course—a sore throat can be attributed to many different causes," infectious disease specialist Andreas M. Kogelnik, MD, PhD, said in an interview with Parade.
When in doubt, stock up on fluids and take a COVID test just to be safe.
