Wastewater levels continue to increase in all four regions of the United States, and the national average continues to increase as well. Although some public health departments are warning their communities, not every government agency across the country is similarly sharing this important information. It is important that we hold them accountable, especially when the risk of an infection is increasing.
The current variant landscape remains a mix of nearly equally dominant strains since the last variant update we gave on July 22, 2023 (CDC now updates every 2 weeks). EG.5 nicknamed “Eris,” a descendant of XBB, is growing in proportion and has become the dominant strain at 17.3% and XBB.1.16 is now the second most dominant strain, representing 15.6% of infections. Due to local health departments being no longer obligated to share data as a result of the end of the public health emergency, the CDC has limited its regional-level reporting of variant proportions through its Nowcast estimates, currently available for only three out of ten regions.
Trump also promised to defund any school, college, airline or public transportation system that imposes a mask or vaccine mandate
Eva Surovell at The Messenger:
Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday accused Democratic politicians of wanting to bring back pandemic-era lockdowns and mandates, declaring that "we will not comply."
"To every COVID tyrant who wants to take away our freedom, hear these words — we will not comply," the former president said in a post by his campaign on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Trump, who posted a flurry of videos and comments on Truth Social on Wednesday evening, also decried lockdowns and promised to defund any school, college, airline or public transportation system that imposes a mask or vaccine mandate.
Schools across the country closed due to COVID-19 during the former president's term in office. Trump resisted vaccine and mask mandates, though he eventually endorsed mask-wearing.
Though a new COVID-19 variant named Eris quickly became the dominant coronavirus subvariant in the U.S., World Health Organization officials say it poses a low risk to global public health.
Donald Trump went on an unhinged conspiratorial rant baselessly suggesting that the Democratic Party wants to revive the pre-COVID vaccine era of COVID lockdown policies.
He continued to push the lie that the 2020 election was "rigged", and falsely insinuated that the 2024 election could be "rigged" again.
He issued his unhinged "we will not comply" message encouraging his cult followers to defy COVID mitigation measures such as mask mandates and vaccine mandates should they ever be reinstated.
Mr. Trump, the beginning of the COVID pandemic happened on YOUR watch, and so were the "lockdowns", capacity restrictions, and mask mandates (set by local and state governments of both parties). You let COVID spread on your watch as "President".
What "Eris" tells us about the future of the pandemic.
Rachel DuRose at Vox:
In the latest data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Covid-19 hospitalizations rose 12.5 percent between July 23 and July 29. Overall, they have been increasing since July 1.
And in the last week, there was a 10 percent increase in locations reporting their highest levels of SARS-CoV-2 ever in sewage wastewater (and that’s despite a decrease in the number of cities reporting the virus in their wastewater).
This is all to say: Covid-19 appears to be making a comeback. And what’s more, this summer uptick coincides with (but may not be caused by) a new dominant strain of the virus taking hold in the US. It’s called EG.5, unofficially nicknamed Eris, and the CDC estimates it’s causing 17.3 percent of current Covid-19 cases in the country. And it’s on the rise: Since the beginning of July, EG.5’s prevalence has increased 9.8 percent.
The EG.5 variant descended from the omicron variant, which caused an explosive outbreak in late 2021 and early 2022. On Wednesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) upgraded EG.5 from a variant “under monitoring” to one of “interest,” meaning it believes it could pose an “increased risk to global public health.”
“Based on its genetic features, immune escape characteristics, and growth rate estimates, EG.5 may spread globally and contribute to a surge in case incidence,” WHO’s EG.5 Initial Risk Evaluation report states. “Several countries with rising EG.5 prevalence have seen increases in cases and hospitalizations, although at present there is no evidence of an increase in disease severity directly associated with EG.5.”
Infectious disease experts tell Vox they agree the new variant is worth paying attention to, but are cautious in saying how concerned we should be.
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How severe and contagious is EG.5?
The symptoms of EG.5 don’t appear to differ much from other omicron subvariants. Infected individuals report cough, fever, chills, shortness of breath, fatigue, body aches, loss of taste or smell, and headaches, among other symptoms.
The WHO reports that EG.5 is not resulting in more cases or deaths than its predecessor, the XBB strain of omicron.
But it’s possibly more contagious than other strains.
“The fact that [EG.5] is emerging quickly suggests that it does have some slight competitive advantage,” said Wurtz. This advantage is likely that it’s slightly more contagious or more capable of evading existing immunity, but, she added, more data is needed to confirm.
The good news is that this strain likely won’t cause as big of a wave as past variants, said Maureen Miller, an epidemiologist with the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. That’s because there’s more widespread immunity to SARS-CoV-2 either from vaccines or natural infection. But still, not everyone is equally protected, depending on when they were last vaccinated or exposed. “The bad news is that these protections wane,” she added. Given winter waves of Covid-19 have historically been the largest, it’s vital that people check to see if they are up-to-date with their boosters.
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How to protect yourself
Across the country, people have started returning to pre-pandemic ways, but McDermott-Levy, who is currently recovering from a Covid-19 infection she got from a family gathering, says the current upswing in cases is a reminder that we need to remain cautious.
“In retrospect, for my own case, I would have asked family members to test before they came. I used to do that,” she said. She also recommends practicing health habits, such as giving up smoking, to ensure your immune system is as strong as possible in case of infection.
All of the same Covid-19 prevention methods still apply. And the same groups are at highest risk for severe infection; older adults, those with compromised immune systems, and those with chronic diseases, said Miller.
People should wear an N-95 mask, social distance when possible in public spaces, and keep up-to-date on vaccines and boosters. Soon, a new Covid-19 vaccine formula will be available. It’s specifically designed to protect against the XBB subvariants (EG.5 descends from XBB) and will hopefully work to reduce the severity of EG.5 infections, said McDermott-Levy.
These shots are especially important given the upcoming back-to-school and winter seasons. There is an under-discussed seasonality to Covid-19 infections that lines up with weather patterns, said Miller. “When it’s too cold outside, people are inside. When it’s too hot outside, people are inside,” she said. Because the virus thrives in spaces where people are in close proximity, this is a problem.
Unfortunately, EG.5 and other future variants are merely a piece of the post-Covid world, but we do have the technology needed to track the virus’s rapid evolution. And that’s helpful, despite there being less data on Covid-19 cases overall.
A new COVID variant is lurking in the shadows in the USA, and it's Eris (EG.5). Eris is a descendent of the Omicron variant that raged during late 2021-early 2022.
