A new, fast-spreading strain of the COVID-19 virus that’s fueling new cases around the globe is in Arizona and expected to become more dominant here.
“EG.5 does not seem to pose a significant public health threat. However, we are monitoring it out of an abundance of caution,” Arizona State University virologist Efrem Lim wrote in an email.
EG.5, nicknamed “Eris,” comprised an estimated 17.3% of new U.S. COVID-19 cases as of the two-week period ending Aug. 5 and was the most prevalent strain in the country, tracking data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows.
COVID-19 indicators, including hospital admissions, emergency department visits, test positivity, and wastewater levels, are increasing nationally, according to the most recent CDC data.
In Arizona, the most recent data shows Eris at an estimated 13% to 15% of new cases, said David Engelthaler, who leads the infectious-diseases division of the Arizona-based Translational Genomics Research Institute. He emphasized that there’s been less overall virus sequencing, so estimates both nationally and in Arizona are not as accurate as they have been in the past.
The EG.5 subvariant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 does not appear to pose more of a threat to public health than other variants, according to the World Health Organization. WHO officials say EG.5 has been behind upticks in COVID-19 cases around the world, including in the U.S., China, South Korea, Japan and Canada.
“It’s definitely becoming one of the more commonplace variants, and it seems to be growing elsewhere and is likely to become one of the more dominant variants in Arizona as well as the rest of the U.S.,” Engelthaler said.
‘This is just the latest iteration of omicron’
EG.5 is a descendant of the XBB.1.9.2 omicron subvariant. That means that it is another omicron sublineage branching out as the virus evolves over time, Lim said. Most of the other COVID-19 cases in Arizona are split between the XBB.1.5 and XBB.1.16 omicron subvariants, he said.
Because EG.5 is a subvariant of the omicron strain, Engelthaler said, he doesn’t see it as a significant public health concern.
“Rather than being a summer blockbuster, it’s really more like a boring sequel,” Engelthaler said. “This is just the latest iteration of omicron. And everything we’ve seen in really the last year and a half has been totally omicron and they all act like omicron.”
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Omicron subvariants have the same characteristics: They seem to spread easily and also evade antibodies, which is why new subvariants keep emerging, he said.
“But, maybe most importantly, it still causes the mild form of COVID, by and large. That really is good news, that we haven’t seen something new, more serious, pop up over the past year and a half,” he said. “It’s all been omicron that everybody’s transmitting and it’s just giving us that same, bad COVID cold, which is not unlike a lot of other human coronaviruses”
Though the federal public health emergency over COVID-19 ended in May, the virus never went away. Severe cases and deaths are extremely low when compared with the height of the pandemic, but they still happen.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, state health officials have reported 33,698 COVID-19 deaths, with 12 deaths during the week ending Aug. 5. Nationwide, COVID-19 has caused 1.14 million deaths. Nationally, there were 473 COVID-19 deaths for the week ending July 15, CDC data shows.
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Nearly 2,000 new Arizona COVID-19 cases were reported for the week ending Aug. 5, according to state health statistics.
“We are seeing EG.5 increase in proportion each month, so there is a possibility that EG.5 will become the dominant variant over time,” Arizona Department of Health Services spokesperson Tom Herrmann wrote in an email on Thursday afternoon.
“It is hard to say how the new omicron subvariant will impact cases here in Arizona. As of now, cases increased slightly four weeks ago and have remained at the same elevated level.”
A new COVID-19 booster is expected this fall
A new COVID-19 booster is expected in September, according to the Maricopa County Department of Public Health.
“People who are concerned about their specific situation and potential risk should talk with their medical provider about timing of a booster,” department spokesperson Sonia Singh wrote in an email.
The new COVID-19 booster is based on the XBB.1.5 variant, which makes it a closer match to current strains, Lim said. So it’s worth it to get the new booster rather than the old one, which was based on the older BA.4 and BA.5 variants, he said. However, if there’s an early surge of COVID-19 cases in the fall or a delay in the new booster, people at high risk for severe COVID-19 disease may need to consider the bivalent booster, Lim added.
A healthy person who received the bivalent COVID-19 booster last year or this year would be best to wait for the new booster, which is expected to be more closely aligned with the circulating variants, Engelthaler said.
“I don’t think that getting a booster now will provide actually much benefit,” Engelthaler said. “Except for those individuals who have a real hard time maintaining any kind of immunity — that is usually the immune-suppressed people and the elderly people, typically over the age of 75.”
The Maricopa County Department of Public Health is encouraging residents to get all recommended respiratory virus vaccines before the end of October to provide them with protection before the holiday season. Those vaccines include COVID-19, flu and, for some populations, the new RSV, respiratory syncytial virus vaccines. There’s one for babies and one recommended for older adults over the age of 60 based on shared decision-making with their health care provider.
New variants of COVID-19 are likely to appear, but following traditional COVID-19 prevention recommendations remains the best way to protect oneself, Herrmann wrote.
State and county health officials advise the following prevention measures:
- Stay up to date on COVID-19 vaccinations.
- Stay home while sick or wear a mask if you can’t.
- Avoid contact with those who are sick.
- Cover your cough and sneezes with a tissue or your sleeve.
- Wash your hands frequently with soap and water and avoid touching your face.
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Reach health care reporter Stephanie Innes at Stephanie.Innes@gannett.com or at 602-444-8369. Follow her on Twitter @stephanieinnes.