New COVID-19 Variant EG.5. (Eris) May Be Driving Uptick in Infections

New COVID-19 variants keep coming at us, fast and furious.

Just two weeks ago, the XBB.1.5 variant accounted for the largest percentage of reported coronavirus cases in the United States (15.4 percent), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But the latest numbers, published this week, show that the fast-spreading EG.5 variant has taken the lead, making up 17.3 percent of infections.

EU.1.1, a variant on the rise earlier this summer, never gained real traction and appears to have petered out.

Nicknamed “Eris,” EG.5 is an offshoot of omicron, just like its XBB relatives. The data suggest that it is very transmissible and may be contributing to an uptick in new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.

Numbers from the most recent week showed that COVID-19-related hospital admissions had risen 12.5 percent nationally, according to the CDC COVID Data Tracker. Emergency room visits were up nearly 22 percent, per the CDC, and the percentage of positive COVID-19 test results ticked up 1.3 percent to 8.9 percent, according to the data tracker.

States with the highest percentage of positive COVID-19 tests currently include New York, New Jersey, and states in the South, per the CDC, while hospitalizations are most noticeably higher in a few pockets in the South, including counties in Alabama, Virginia, and Louisiana.

The increase in EG.5 is not isolated to the United States. The World Health Organization issued a risk evaluation on August 9, stating that there has been a steady increase in the proportion of EG.5 infections reported globally, but that the health threat posed by the variant is low and similar to other circulating variants.

“Clearly, EG.5 is outcompeting the other variants fairly quickly, but based on the data that I have seen, it’s less virulent than earlier variants like delta, which caused a huge amount of mortality,” says Dean Winslow, MD, an infectious disease specialist and professor of medicine at Stanford University in California.

Overall COVID-19 Threat Remains Low

With test positivity at about 9 percent, COVID-19 certainly appears to be spreading, but it’s not causing serious illness in large numbers of people.

Even though there has been a rise in hospitalizations, numbers are still low in more than 99 percent of the country, per the CDC. In the newest CDC reporting, COVID-19 was related to just 1 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 much of the serious illness, hospitalization, and death. An updated vaccine expected to be available this fall should be even more effective against circulating strains, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Certain Groups Remain More Vulnerable to Severe COVID-19

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) due to 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.

If You Have Symptoms, Get Tested

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 systems.

“Newer COVID-19 variants have very mild symptoms in general compared to the earlier variants, and can very much mimic the common cold,” he says. Common COVID-19 symptoms include sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, sneezing, and coughing. “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.