A new family of COVID variants nicknamed “FLiRT” is spreading across the country, as vaccination rates remain concerningly low for some public health experts.
While symptoms and severity seem to be about the same as previous COVID strains, the new FLiRT variants appear to be more transmissible, said infectious disease expert Dr. Robert Murphy.
FLiRT is not one specific strain. It is a nickname given to a series of mutations — S:F456L and S:R346T — culled from the letters in the technical mutation names.
“A new, more contagious variant is out there,” said Murphy, executive director of Northwestern University’s Institute for Global Health and a professor of infectious diseases at the Feinberg School of Medicine. “COVID-19 is still with us, and compared to flu and RSV, COVID-19 can cause significant problems off-season.”
Murphy urged the public to get up to date on COVID shots, particularly individuals who are at higher risk for severe complications from the virus. While much of the population has some immunity from vaccination or previous COVID infections, Murphy noted that “with COVID-19, immunity wanes over time.”
One FLiRT variant, KP.2, is estimated to account for roughly a quarter of recent COVID cases, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data from late April.
The JN.1 variant is estimated to account for about 22% of recent COVID cases across the country, according to CDC data from late April.
Another FLiRT variant, KP.1.1, comprises over 7% of COVID cases nationwide, the CDC data shows. The name “FLiRT” is an acronym using the technical names for the mutations that caused the family of variants.
Nationwide, about 23% of adults and 14% of children were reported to be up to date on COVID vaccines as of late April, according to the CDC, based on data from the National Immunization Survey.
FLiRT has made itself known in Los Angeles County, but hasn’t made a lot of noise just yet. But officials expect to see the numbers…
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