hances are, at least one person you know—and probably many people you know—have caught COVID-19 this summer. Ever since the emerged this spring, the U.S.
has been hit with one new variant after another, leading to a seemingly never-ending wave of cases. The amount of virus in and levels are now “very high,” in part because there’s yet another new variant on the scene: KP.3.
1.1. KP.
3.1.1 was to blame for more than a third of new COVID-19 cases in the U.
S. during the two weeks ending Aug. 17, U.
S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) . And that’s a lot of cases: about one in 34 people in the U.
S. currently has COVID-19, independent data scientist and infectious-disease modeler Jay Weiland tells TIME. CDC that lots of people are testing positive and that hospital visits and deaths related to COVID-19 are on the rise.
What will KP.3.1.
1 do next? Here’s what to know. Like other variants that have recently become widespread in the U.S.
, including KP.2 and KP.3, KP.
3.1.1 descended from JN.
1, the Omicron relative that . Weiland considers KP.3.
1.1 a “sibling” of the original FLiRT strains, because they have the same “parent” variant but are slightly different in composition. : KP.
3.1.1 has some changes that have allowed it to take off, according to pre-publication in July.
It seems to be more infectious than KP.3 and better at evading antibodies generated both by previous infections and the COVID-19 vaccines distributed this past fall, the study says..