{"id":9761,"date":"2024-08-02T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-02T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/?p=9761"},"modified":"2024-06-15T09:23:43","modified_gmt":"2024-06-15T14:23:43","slug":"cdc-new-covid-variant-kp-3-on-the-rise-across-the-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/?p=9761","title":{"rendered":"CDC: New COVID Variant KP.3 On The Rise Across The US"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SATURDAY, JUN 15, 2024 – 09:20 AM, Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A newly discovered COVID-19 variant, KP.3, is rising to become the dominant strain of the virus across the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

KP.3 constitutes <\/a>about 25 percent of all COVID-19 cases detected by the agency.<\/strong> It\u2019s followed by the KP. 2 and LB. 1 variants, which make up about 22 percent and 14 percent of all cases, respectively, the data show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest COVID-19 data were collected over a two-week period from May 26 to June 8. Some media outlets have referred to both the KP.2 and KP.3 variants as \u201cFLiRT,\u201d due to where spike proteins are located.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Epoch Times contacted the CDC for comment on June 12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCDC predicts that KP.3 is growing and will become the most common SARS-CoV-2 lineage nationally,<\/strong>\u201d a CDC spokesperson told several news outlets this week about the variant\u2019s dominance. \u201cCDC is working to better understand its potential impact on public health.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the data suggest that despite the increase in the KP.3 variant\u2019s prevalence, the U.S. is currently seeing low levels of COVID-19 activity overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A CDC graph of COVID-19\u2019s historic trends shows<\/a> that weekly deaths are at the lowest point since the pandemic started in early 2020. Virus-linked hospitalizations are also at their lowest point, the data show<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost key COVID-19 indicators are showing low levels of activity nationally, therefore the total number of infections this lineage may be causing is likely low,<\/strong>\u201d the CDC spokesperson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andy Pekosz, a molecular microbiology professor at Johns Hopkins University, said that the KP.2 and KP.3 variants do not appear to be more or less severe than prior COVID-19 strains. Instead, most people have COVID-19 antibodies either through a previous infection or vaccines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe period of infectiousness for these FLiRT variants remains the same as with JN.1 and previous omicron variants: After exposure, it may take five or more days before you develop symptoms, though symptoms may appear sooner,\u201d he said in a question and answer session that was published on the university\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou are contagious one to two days before you experience symptoms and a few days after symptoms subside.<\/strong> And as with previous variants, some people may have detectable live virus for up to a week after their symptoms begin, and some may experience rebound symptoms.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COVID-19 Reports No Longer Required<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Last month, the CDC said<\/a> that hospitals will no longer have to report COVID-19-related hospital admissions, hospital capacity, or related information. The changes went into effect on May 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The old \u201cdata will be archived as of May 10, 2024, and available at United States COVID-19 Hospitalization Metrics by Jurisdiction, Timeseries,\u201d according to a statement posted on the CDC website at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the agency still encouraged medical facilities to report COVID-19 hospitalizations and related information to the federal health agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA key lesson we learned from the COVID-19 pandemic is the importance of having reporting systems in place before an active emergency<\/strong>,\u201d a CDC spokesperson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese data have a significant and ongoing value for protecting patient health and safety as well as public health,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel, which authorized every previous COVID-19 vaccine that has been on the market, voted this past week to manufacture new booster shots to target strains derived from the JN.1 variant, which include KP.2 and KP.3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A survey<\/a> released earlier this year said that one in five Americans believe COVID-19 is a \u201cmajor threat\u201d to the U.S. population, a sharp decline from a high of 67 percent in the summer of 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SATURDAY, JUN 15, 2024 – 09:20 AM, Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times\u00a0 A newly discovered COVID-19 variant, KP.3, is rising to become the dominant strain of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9763,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[770,1040,1062],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-covid-spike-proteins","category-flirt","category-kp-3"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9761","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=9761"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9762,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9761\/revisions\/9762"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cov19longhaulfoundation.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}