Covid, here's what the most widespread variant is today: is it more severe?

There JN.1 variant of Sars-CoV-2 is now dominant in the United States. In the latest update, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) calculates that it represents up to approximately 85.7% of Covid cases detected nationally. But the first data coming from hospitals suggests that it is no more serious than the previous ones. A CDC official highlighted this aspect in an online meeting. The expert explained that the 'daughter' of BA.2.86, the highly mutated variant called Pirola on social media, does not appear to be dissimilar to what has been seen previously and does not appear to be leading to a more severe pathology.

This would therefore emerge from the first available data, as reported by various US media. The agency has been monitoring the sharp increase in JN.1 and is still waiting to have analysis of additional weeks of data to present its more detailed assessment of the variant's impact this month, CBS News reports online. season, reported CDC expert Eduardo Azziz-Baumgartner.

Symptoms

Asked whether JN.1's symptoms appeared to be more severe than in previous waves, the official responded that “there are early signs that this may not be the case,” based on cohorts of electronic health records and other data. But, he pointed out, “it's important to remember that the way a virus affects a person is unique” and “it could also be very serious.” Some people “may die from a virus that may be milder for the general population.”

Azziz-Baumgartner said the CDC expects to release more details about the severity of JN.1 “over the next couple of weeks” as more information about the virus accumulates. Until now, the agency had been careful to point out that there was “no evidence” that the ascendant variant was causing more severe disease, even though it contributed to the spread of the virus this winter. And so far it has not followed up on the World Health Organization's (WHO) decision to consider JN.1 a 'variant of concern' in its own right. In any case, the WHO had specified that “there are currently no laboratory or epidemiological reports” linking JN.1 or other variants to the increase in the severity of the disease. The CDC's first results on JN.1 come when the American body has begun to see a slowdown in the trend of respiratory viruses after the peak reached during the winter holidays.