As the nation begins its second summer following the end of the federal COVID-19 Public Health Emergency , a new family of viral subvariants virologists are calling FLiRT is on the rise. “This is not a surprise; this is always in the cards,” Edwin Michael, PhD , an epidemiologist at the University of South Florida College of Public Health , tells Fortune . “The mutations will keep happening.
” The omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 , has been circulating the globe for nearly three years. In the U.S.
, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) classified it as a “variant of concern” in November 2021. The original omicron strain, B.1.
1.529 , has since mutated into a number of subvariants, from BA.2.
74 to XBB.1.16 .
Now, a subvariant called KP.2 is the dominant strain nationwide, accounting for 29% of infections during the two-week period ending May 25, per the CDC’s COVID Data Tracker . KP.
2, KP.3, and KP.1.
1 are among the omicron subvariants in the FLiRT family, which isn’t a cutesy moniker. Rather, it comes from the technical names of a pair of spike protein mutations common to the subvariants, according to the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) . “It seems it is less [infectious] compared to JN.
1, but it’s more immune-evasive,” Michael said. “Something is going on there, which we don’t know exactly.” So far, the CDC hasn’t identified symptoms specific to FLiRT infection.
Keep an eye out for th.
