CDC warns new Covid ‘FLiRT’ variants will become dominant in US β but here’s why it could be the end of the disease
The latest Covid variants, nicknamed ‘FLiRT’, are sweeping the country after mutating the virus to evade the human immune system.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) detected KP.1.1 and KP.2 variants in wastewater sampling, finding the latter made up around a quarter of new Covid cases last month.
But an infectious disease doctor has now told DailyMail.com that these new mutations, which alter the coronavirus ‘spike proteins’, also appear to make the pandemic disease less able to enter and infect human cells.
This mixed blessing has medical professionals warning of an impending Covid wave this summer, which should make these sneakier β but less contagious β variants of the virus more common.
An infectious disease doctor has told DailyMail.com that new mutations in the coronavirus ‘spike proteins’ have reduced the ability of a new variant of the pandemic disease to enter and infect human cells. Above, a 3D model of Covid-19 with its infamous spike proteins (red)
That doctor, Tom Russo, said pregnant women and others may want to mask up in crowded, poorly ventilated indoor spaces this summer. Above, a resident of Snellville, Georgia shops at a local supermarket last month, April 2024, while wearing a protective face mask
This apparent contradiction of the FLiRT variants can be compared to a weapon that is less dangerous than a pistol, but better able to evade a metal detector.
“That’s a reasonable analogy,” said Dr. Thomas Russo, a professor at the University at Buffalo, told DailyMail.com.
βOnce they evade those defense mechanisms, their ability, their contagiousness, is not as great as some of the earlier variants.β
βBut the ability to evade our defenses has clearly been sufficient if it increases proportionately,β he noted.
The CDC websites show that from April 27, the number of infections will likely increase in two places: Texas and Puerto Rico.
However, a majority of the US has shown or is likely to see a decline in status.
The CDC compared March and April and found that hospitalizations due to Covid fell by 11.1 percent.
Only three percent of the US population has tested positive in the past week.
However, the FLiRT variants are still new and the data may change over time.
Dr. Russo has predicted that there will be some cases in the US, along with some “bad outcomes.”
The CDC websites show that from April 27, the number of infections will likely increase in two places: Texas and Puerto Rico. However, a majority of the US has shown or is likely to see a decline in status
βIt’s going to be primarily about the individuals who are at the greatest risk, which we’ve always talked about,β he explained, βour seniors, the immunocompromised, and those who had significant underlying comorbidities (i.e. pre-existing conditions).β
He noted that pregnant women and people with young children may also want to be alert and mask up in crowded and poorly ventilated indoor environments this summer.
βSo far, Covid has not been a seasonal virus in winter,β Dr. emphasized. Russo, βit happens all year round.β
“We’ve seen some waves in the summer, especially in the southern states, where it’s warm and people are indoors with air conditioning, where the virus spreads well.”
βI suspect we will see a surge in emergency visits, hospitalizations and deaths this summer,β he predicted, βprobably caused by KP.2 and KP.β 1.1, which is actually a sibling. It’s very closely related.’
While it’s true that new Covid cases and hospitalizations have been on a downward trend since early 2024, researchers have also seen bumps in that decline that point to an impending wave of FLiRT variants.
Data scientist Jay Weiland, who has built a reputation for accurately predicting Covid trends, has created a disturbing graph extrapolating where KP.2 and KP.1.1 could be going, based on samples of Covid virus strains found in wastewater or sewage water have been found.
Weiland’s model predicted that the number of cases could rise again by the end of May.
Data scientist Jay Weiland, who has a reputation for accurately predicting Covid trends, has created a disturbing graph based on wastewater data that extrapolates where KP.2 and KP.1.1 could go. His model predicts that the number of cases could rise again as early as the end of May
Above, residents of the Benton House residence north of Atlanta, Georgia, helped mask up during a 2021 coronavirus pandemic surge
Dr. Russo, who also teaches medical students at the Buffalo Veterans Affairs Medical Center, told DailyMail.com that the declining number of people getting Covid booster shots and a general decline in immunity likely also helped FLiRT variants to flourish.
βMost people did not receive the updated formulation of the vaccine this fall,β Dr. Russo said, βand those who did receive it are now facing waning immunity.β
βIn addition to a variant that is more ‘immune-invasive,’β he said, βwe will also have a larger portion of the population that is increasingly susceptible.β
According to researchers in Japan and Britain, who were among the first to characterize the KP.2 strain in April, the new Covid mutation has at least ‘three substitutions’ in its ‘spike protein’ compared to the most competitive strain of winter, JN. 1.
These spike proteins, like microscopic hooks on the outside of the virus, help Covid enter and infect human cells, especially the unique spike proteins of the most contagious strains of Covid.
But these spike proteins have also been the key identification marker used in vaccines to help the human immune system identify and attack the virus in the body.
FLiRT Covid variants’ unusual new spike protein helped hide it from the immune system, giving KP.2 and KP.1.1 “higher viral fitness,” as the Japanese and British researchers wrote, making it the “predominant lineage became worldwide’.
Their research, which continues to be peer-reviewed, is available as a pre-print from the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory bioRxivallowing other researchers to collect more concrete information about the new mutations.
ONS data on Covid infections shows that more than 80 per cent of Britons suffer from a runny nose when infected. A loss of taste or smell β one of the original signs of the virus β accounts for just under a fifth of all recorded symptoms
“At this time we have no data to suggest that KP.2 or its sibling KP 1.1 causes more or less severe disease and JN.1,” said Dr. Russo.
‘All of these Omicron variants have generally caused less severe disease than their predecessors: the original Wuhan strain and the alpha and delta variants.
“But just because that’s happening now doesn’t really guarantee that that won’t change in the future,” added the doctor, whose research focus is specifically on infectious diseases.
Dr. Russo has advised any members of the public who are particularly susceptible to get their free Covid boosters for last winter’s JN.1 variant, which is very similar to KP.2 and KP.1.1.
βCDC approved a second shot for this at-risk population and our seniors,β he told DailyMail.com
Others who want to help flatten the curve of this summer surge should also get booster shots, he suggested.
Poorly ventilated, crowded indoor venues, he said, are likely to be this summer’s super-spreading events, in what could hopefully be one of the milder and final waves of the Covid era.
“So I’m here in Buffalo, and we have these old school bars that look like the first floor of old houses with no ventilation, right?” Dr. Russo said, to give an example.
βPeople come in there, you know, to see a (Buffalo) Bills (football) game or a Sabers (hockey) game or whatever,β he said. ‘You have to be careful with that if you are at high risk.’