The new variant is unofficially called Eris after the Greek goddess of chaos, strife, and discord.
, an infectious disease specialist at Memorial Hermann Health System in Houston, says health agencies likely noticed the outbreak in these two countries thanks to aggressive surveillance. “If we could expand out to the rest of the world, the picture would almost certainly look the same,” she says. There have been reports of Eris traveling through Asia, too, and possibly throughThe new variant still acts very similar to all the other Omicron strains, says Yancey.
In general, Omicron strains cause less severe disease because the virus doesn’t reach most people’s lungs, Yancey says. “So: Yay, they tend to cause less serious illness,” she says. “But, boo, they also tend to cause asymptomatic disease, so people don’t know they are infected and don’t isolate or wear masks.” No official studies have yet calculated Eris’s rate of transmission, and Yancey says that as a new strain it would make sense that it would at least be more contagious.
From his experience, the ones who remain most at risk appear to be the unvaccinated. “In our hospital, we have seen almost a tripling or quadrupling over the past several weeks,” Roberts adds, though cases remain “well below what we saw last summer and winter.” People who are not vaccinated or have not received all of the shots make up the majority of those hospitalizations. For people who are unvaccinated, Roberts advises not to wait and to get last year’s bivalent booster.
Those who are up to date on their vaccinations do not need to re-up again and should instead wait for October’s booster. The new booster won’t include the specific EG.5 subvariant, but it will target the XBB strains. Both Roberts and Yancy recommend getting the booster when it rolls out this fall.Both infectious disease experts agree people need to be aware of—but not worried about—Eris.
Beyond getting an updated booster, Roberts says to assess your personal risk tolerance levels. While we shouldn’t foresee any mask mandates, if you fall under the high-risk category, it’s a good ideaor indoor spaces with poor ventilation. You’ll want to keep some rapid COVID tests at home in case you need to test. Continue washing your hands and staying home when you’re sick to avoid getting and spreading Eris to others.
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