A new COVID variant is starting to spread in the United States, but it’s unclear whether it will become a dominant strain.
The XEC strain has spread recently in Europe and has accounted for an estimated 5.7% of new cases in the United States in the past two weeks.
Experts said the variant is a recombinant of two other strains, which means genetic information was exchanged between them to form the new variant. There’s no evidence yet that it’s more transmissible than other current strains, and there’s no evidence that it causes more serious symptoms.
Researchers believe the new vaccines that have just come out will likely work well against this strain. It’s closely related to the KP.2 strain targeted by the new vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. Some experts think it’s also likely that anyone infected with COVID-19 recently will also have some lingering immunity to the new strain.
Send any questions or comments to Kirk Enstrom at [email protected].