Despite the alleged re-invigoration of our faulting CDC, we now have a new and aggressive COVID strain. As the WHO notes:
Previously, JN.1 was tracked as part of BA.2.86, the parent lineage that is classified as a variant of interest (VOI). However, in recent weeks, JN.1 continues to be reported in multiple countries, and its prevalence has been rapidly increasing globally and now represents the vast majority of BA.2.86 descendent lineages reported to GISAID. Due to its rapidly increasing spread, WHO is classifying JN.1 as a separate variant of interest (VOI) from the parent lineage BA.2.86. Considering the available, yet limited evidence, the additional public health risk posed by JN.1 is currently evaluated as low at the global level. It is anticipated that this variant may cause an increase in SARS-CoV-2 cases amid surge of infections of other viral and bacterial infections, especially in countries entering the winter season.
As noted in Medscape:
JN.1 was previously grouped with its relative, BA.2.86, but has increased so much in the past 4 weeks that the WHO moved it to standalone status, according to a summary published by the agency. The prevalence of JN.1 worldwide jumped from 3% for the week ending November 5 to 27% for the week ending December 3. During that same period, JN.1 rose from 1% to 66% of cases in the Western Pacific, which stretches across 37 countries, from China and Mongolia to Australia and New Zealand. In the United States, JN.1 has also been increasing rapidly. The variant accounted for an estimated 21% of cases for the 2-week period ending December 9, up from 8% during the 2 weeks prior.
I have seen several cases of this and as expected during the holiday season we have have epidemic spread again. The patients infected have been vaccinated and have had a previous infection but have asthma, diabetes or immunocompromised. The current vaccine is for a variant from a year ago.
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