{"id":9464,"date":"2024-05-14T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-14T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/?p=9464"},"modified":"2024-05-07T10:22:54","modified_gmt":"2024-05-07T15:22:54","slug":"here-we-go-two-new-covid-variants-named-flirt-reportedly-spreading-across-the-u-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/?p=9464","title":{"rendered":"Here We Go: Two New COVID Variants Named \u2018FLiRT\u2019 Reportedly Spreading Across the U.S."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\">By\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegatewaypundit.com\/author\/jezztoot\/\">Jim H\u1d0fft<\/a>\u00a0May. 6, 2024<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just in time for the election\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Two new COVID-19 variants, collectively known as \u201cFLiRT,\u201d have been detected and are reportedly spreading across the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The FLiRT variants are sub-lineages of the Omicron variant, named for the mutations they bear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.idsociety.org\/covid-19-real-time-learning-network\/diagnostics\/covid-19-variant-update\/#\/+\/0\/publishedDate_na_dt\/desc\/\">Infectious Disease Society of America<\/a>&nbsp;states that the nickname \u2018FLiRT\u2019 is derived from the technical names of the variants\u2019 mutations. The World Health Organization (WHO) has reclassified it as a variant of interest and recommended close monitoring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.masslive.com\/news\/2024\/05\/covid-flirt-variants-dominate-across-us-what-are-the-symptoms.html#:~:text=KP.1.1%2C%20another%20FLiRT%20variant%20circulating%2C%20is%20less%20widespread%20than%20its%20sibling%20and%20makes,the%20CDC.\">Mass Live<\/a>, citing the latest data from the U.S.&nbsp;Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the KP.2 variant is currently the dominant strain, accounting for about 25% of all infections nationwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another FLiRT variant, KP.1.1, is also circulating in the US but is less widespread, making up around 7.5% of infections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So-called experts are now claiming that individuals without the updated COVID-19 vaccines are likely to become infected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>In recent weeks, COVID-19 forecasters have reported on a new set of variants picked up in&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/covid.cdc.gov\/covid-data-tracker\/#wastewater-surveillance\">wastewater surveillance<\/a>. Nicknamed&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JPWeiland\/status\/1780366091417424301?utm_source=substack&amp;utm_medium=email\">FLiRT<\/a>, they\u2019re threatening to cause a new wave of COVID infections, which recently bottomed out after spiking in December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Models released last week from&nbsp;Jay Weiland, a data scientist who has accurately predicted COVID waves since the beginning of the pandemic, warns that a surge is on the horizon. \u201cHe\u2019s someone who many experts like myself follow because he\u2019s been pretty accurate so far,\u201d said&nbsp;Megan L. Ranney, MD, dean of the Yale School of Public Health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What\u2019s more, said Ranney, FLiRT also has some concerning features, like changes in the spike protein, which play a role in helping&nbsp;SARS-CoV-2, the&nbsp;virus that causes COVID-19, take hold, colonize the body, and make people sick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Host vulnerability is another troubling factor, given that only&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/respiratory-viruses\/data-research\/dashboard\/vaccination-trends-adults.html#:~:text=The%20percent%20of%20the%20population%20reporting%20receipt%20of%20the%20updated,)%20among%20adults%20age%2065+.\">22%&nbsp;<\/a>of American adults have gotten the latest COVID vaccine. And since many people may not have had the virus in a while, they\u2019re ripe for reinfection.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By\u00a0Jim H\u1d0fft\u00a0May. 6, 2024 Just in time for the election\u2026 Two new COVID-19 variants, collectively known as \u201cFLiRT,\u201d have been detected and are reportedly spreading across the United States. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9467,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[387,612],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-omicron","category-variants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9464"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9468,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9464\/revisions\/9468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}