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Prepare to hunker down for a gloomier holiday season as COVID-19 cases mount, with a new variant making the rounds and driving infections up.
The United States is grappling with the JN.1 variant, a derivative of the omicron strain, that now accounts for an estimated 21% of new infections, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The raw numbers on JN. 1 are eye-opening. In late November, it barely registered on the radar at just over 8%, but by Dec. 9, JN. 1 infections had surged into the double digits, based on CDC data.
While the sharp increase is worrisome, international health experts are urging calm—for now.
Here’s the lowdown:
What is JN.1?
Closely akin to the BA.2.86 variant, the JN.1 strain is a close relation to omicron, according to the CDC.
The BA.2.86 subvariant had been under surveillance since August, but experts observed that some cases displayed a single alteration in the spike protein—the virus’s gateway into host cells to spur infection—reported the CDC.
JN.1 emerged as a distinct variant in the United States in September and has spread to 11 countries since, as per the CDC.
Just a sliver of cases involved the JN.1 strain by late October, per CDC data, but that figure has shot skyward since then.
Officials at the CDC are noting that the unabated spread of JN.1 suggests that it may either be spreading more readily or bypassing the human immune system more effectively. Added, The continued growth of JN.1 suggests that it is either more transmissible or better at evading our immune systems,” the CDC said at the beginning of December.”
In effect, the mutation in the spike protein could be making it easier for the virus to latch on to cells than its predecessors or stealthier as a pathogen in avoiding detection by the human immune system.
Health experts worldwide have flagged this trend, and on Dec. 19, JN.1 was all but marked as an entity distinct from the rest of the pack by the World Health Organization.
“Based on the available evidence, the additional global public health risk posed by JN.1 is currently evaluated as low,” the WHO announced in a Tweet. “Despite this, with the onset of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, JN.1 could increase the burden of respiratory infections in many countries.”
Does the updated COVID booster protect against JN.1?
The official word from the CDC is that the JN.1 variant is sufficiently close to previous strains that the adjustments made to the COVID-19 booster shot should confer protection.
“The spike protein—called a ‘spike’ because it looks like tiny spikes on the virus’ surface—plays a crucial role in helping the virus infect people. Because of this, the spike protein is also the part of the virus that vaccines target, meaning vaccines should work against JN.1 and BA.2.86 similarly,” the CDC said.
According to the agency, “treatments and testing to remain effective” against JN.1, as it has been with previous strains.
The FDA greenlighted the most recent COVID-19 booster in September, and it was subsequently endorsed by the CDC. Still, numerous people in the US have chosen to forego receiving the booster shot.