New variants push summer wave of COVID-19 cases; updated vaccine coming this fall – cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio The virus just keeps on mutating. Offspring of the troublesome omicron variant are causing another spike in COVID-19 cases.

The new variants are wilier at evading protection from prior infections and immunizations, health experts say. An updated vaccine is coming this fall, but will it be enough to ward off increases in sickness and hospitalizations this winter especially if people ignore the shots?

The Ohio Department of Health on Thursday reported 3,896 new cases in the last week, marking the seventh consecutive week of increasing case numbers. This compares to just 890 cases reported on May 30, and more than double the 1,678 cases during the third week in July last year.

Hospitalizations are also up, with the state health department reporting 124 new patients in the last week, up from 34 the week of June 6 and only 53 at the same time last year. These numbers include people with COVID-19 hospitalized for any reason, even if COVID-19 is not the cause for being hospitalized, but do reflect a changing trend.

Yet for both cases and hospitalizations, the numbers are far below where they once were, including 26,610 cases and 690 hospitalizations the third week of July two years ago, and the far higher winter highs.

Ohios current trend of rising case numbers follows the national trend, where there have been consistent increases in COVID-19 cases in many parts of the country, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Test positivity, emergency department visits, and hospitalizations the main markers the CDC uses to gauge virus activity are all rising, especially in seniors and in western states.

The summer wave of COVID-19 has affected President Joe Biden, who tested positive for the virus this week. The White House said Biden, who previously had COVID-19 in 2022, had mild symptoms and planned to self-isolate at his home in Rehoboth, Delaware, while continuing to work.

What are the new variants causing the summer surge in COVID-19, and do they make people sicker? With the summer travel season underway, should everyone wear masks on planes?

Below are answers to these and other questions from Amy Ray, MetroHealth vice president of Infection Prevention and Epidemiology; Dr. Hareesh Singam, infectious disease specialist, Cleveland Clinic; and Dr. Amy Edwards, associate medical director of pediatric infection control at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies and Childrens Hospital.

Additional information was supplied by Yale Medicine, USA Today, the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy in Minnesota, the CDC, Medpage Today and the Food and Drug Administration.

Q: We have seen an increase in the weekly number of COVID-19 cases in June and July. What are the reasons for the rising case numbers?

As with most spikes in COVID-19 cases, the current increase is mostly being driven by new variants. The new variants are labeled KP.2 and KP.3 (collectively known as the FLiRT variants) and LB.1, Singam said

Currently, FLiRT and LB.1 are circulating widely in the United States. The variant KP.3 alone is estimated to account for nearly 40% of the new COVID-19 illnesses across the country, Singam said.

While case numbers have risen recently, the rate of hospitalizations remains quite low.

Q: What are the new omicron variants causing the upswing in cases?

In April, a group of new virus strains known as the FLiRT variants (based on the technical names of their two mutations) began to spread, followed in June by a variant known as LB.1.

The LB.1 and FLiRT are subvariants of omicron, the highly transmissible variant that fueled a spike in cases in late 2021.

The LB.1 strain is similar to the FLiRT variants but with an additional mutation.

Viruses mutate all the time, so Im not surprised to see a new coronavirus variant taking over, Yale Medicine infectious diseases specialist Dr. Scott Roberts said in an article on the Yale Medicine website. And Im guessing it will continue to mutate.

The FLiRT strains -- which include KP.3, KP.2 and KP.1.1 made up the majority of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. at the beginning of July. KP.3, was responsible for 36.9% of COVID infections in the United States, KP.2 made up 24.4%, and KP.1.1 accounted for 9.2% of cases.

FLiRT and LB.1 are more effective than their predecessors at infecting people who have some immunity from vaccines or previous infections.

COVID-19 tests should be able to detect strains related to JN.1, and antiviral treatments such as Paxlovid should be effective against the new variants.

Q: Do the new variants make people sicker?

The new variants dont appear to make people sicker or spread faster, UHS Edwards said. However, just like previous variants, the mutations make the COVID-19 vaccine less effective against them.

On the other hand, the Clinics Singam said the new FLiRT variants and LB.1 do spread more easily than the JN.1, which is the prior variant. The emerging variants KP.2, KP.3 and LB.1 are descended from JN.1.

The variants cause mild disease, possibly because immunity is stronger overall due to immunization and infections of prior COVID-19 variants, Singam said. Current treatments should still be effective.

Q: Since 2020, it seems as if COVID-19 peaks in the winter and summer. Do researchers think COVID-19 is seasonal?

COVID-19 does appear to be seasonal, but the summer season is more variable than the winter season, Edwards said. Last summer, cases number stayed relatively low in Northeast Ohio, though numbers peaked in other states, UHs Edwards said.

The virus mutates a lot with new variants occurring every few months, which could be contributing to the summer peaks, the Clinics Singam said.

When people stay in air-conditioned buildings to avoid heat, they are susceptible to the virus, because almost all known COVID-19 transmissions occur indoors, Singam said.

However, the influenza virus doesnt peak in summer. Therefore, the COVID-19 virus could be an overall hardier virus as well, Singam said.

Q: Will there be a new COVID-19 shot in the fall?

Yes, there will be a new vaccines for COVID-19 and flu this fall.

The viruses for flu and COVID-19 are always mutating and also our protection against these virus declines over time. Therefore, it is imperative to get the updated vaccine against the new variants, Singam said.

Recently, the CDCs Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices endorsed updated COVID-19 and influenza vaccines for the 2024-25 respiratory virus season.

Updated, one-shot COVID-19 vaccines will be available from Moderna, Novavax, and Pfizer later this year.

Everyone 6 months of age and older should receive an updated COVID-19 vaccine and flu shot this fall. This is similar to last years recommendation.

However, fewer people are getting the new COVID-19 shot. In Ohio nearly 140,000 received the vaccine in one week in fall 2023. That number dwindled to less than 1,500 last week, the state reported Thursday. About 11.8% of Ohioans have received the updated one-shot COVID-19 vaccine.

Soon, some people may have a harder time getting a COVID-19 shot. The CDCs Bridge Access Program, which provided free COVID-19 vaccines to uninsured or underinsured people, will end in August before the rollout of the updated COVID-19 shot.

The COVID-19 vaccine protects against hospitalization, and reduced the risk of developing long COVID, health experts say.

COVID-19 and the flu should be taken seriously, the CDC said. In 2023, over 916,300 people were hospitalized with COVID-19, and 75,500 died from the disease, according to the CDC. By contrast, nearly 45,000 people died from flu complications in 2023.

Q: Will the updated vaccine target the latest variants?

The new fall COVID-19 vaccine will be calibrated to the new variants.

The COVID-19 vaccines for the 2024-2025 season target the JN.1 variant, which is the parent strain of many of the currently circulating variants. The Food and Drug Administration recently asked vaccine makers to also target the JN.1 descendent KP.2 if possible.

This change is intended to ensure that the 2024-2025 formula of the vaccine is a close match to the strains in circulation this fall.

We cant predict which variants are going to emerge over the coming months, Dr. Melida Wharton of the CDC said during a June FDA committee meeting. It may very well not be any of the ones that were talking about today, but theyre likely to be related to JN.1. So having a vaccine thats the trunk of the tree rather than the branches makes sense to me.

Q: Is it true that we dont really know how many people are getting COVID-19 because so many dont get tested or report the results?

Most people arent even testing if they arent very sick and those who do home testing arent reporting, so it is true that we dont really know how many people have COVID-19 right now, UHs Edwards said.

Since there is some concern about whether people are being tested as much, perhaps a better guide is hospitalizations. People are more likely to know if they have COVID-19 if they are hospitalized (those these numbers include people hospitalized for any reason who also have COVID-19.

New hospitalizations in Ohio have been up the last several weeks.

Q: If youre traveling on a plane, do experts recommend masking?

Masking is recommended in an indoor, confined area with a lot of people a high-risk situation for COVID-19 transmission. This is especially true if there is an increase in the number of cases in the area, the Clinics Singam said.

New data suggests that masking on flights would effectively limit transmission. In a recently published study, long flights with enforced masking had no reported COVID-19 transmission.

Masking is encouraged for patients who are at increased risk of severe infection, including patients with immunocompromising conditions and certain chronic conditions.

If you plan to mask for COVID or any other highly contagious respiratory virus, wear a high-quality, well-fitting N95 mask.

Julie Washington covers healthcare for cleveland.com. Read previous stories at this link.

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New variants push summer wave of COVID-19 cases; updated vaccine coming this fall - cleveland.com