EG.5 Variant Dominates US COVID-19 Cases

According to the most recent genetic surveillance data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the COVID-19 omicron EG.5 variant is currently the most prevalent strain in the US. 

However, because of lax data collecting, it is difficult to determine what this implies for the nation. According to CDC data, the proportion of coronavirus infections caused by the EG.5 omicron subvariant in the US has increased by 5% in the past two weeks, accounting for 17.3% of all illnesses.

The second most common strain, XBB.1.16, accounts for 15.6 percent of infections, making the incidence of EG.5 currently quite low. However, hospitalization data is still routinely updated even though the CDC no longer maintains national COVID-19 case rates. 

The minor increase in SARS-CoV-2 hospitalizations over the past few weeks suggests greater levels of transmission, but it is still unclear if this pattern can be linked to the recent expansion of EG.5.

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Genomic Data Decline Post-COVID Emergency

Viral data collection has significantly decreased since the COVID-19 national public health emergency was declared over earlier this year. Only three of the ten US areas managed by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) presently have genomic data available to the CDC.

One of the three HHS regions where genetic data is available, Region 4, which includes a large portion of the Southeast, is the only one where EG.5 is predominant. EG.5 evolved from the XBB.1.9.2 strain and belongs to the XBB family of omicron sub variants. 

Prior to being momentarily supplanted by XBB.1.16 in July, the subvariant XBB.1.5 dominated the US market for several months. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that EG.5 was discovered for the first time in February of this year. 

The WHO designated EG.5 as a variant under monitoring last month, which means that further analysis of the variant is required. The variant possesses genetic differences that may show early signals of growth advantage compared to other circulating strains.

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Source: thehill.com