The COVID-19 virus that is causing the current outbreak continues to mutate, or change, as it spreads from person to person. These changes are sometimes dramatic, and can affect how the virus spreads or causes illness in people. During the pandemic, many different versions of the virus emerged and were given names starting with letters of the Greek alphabet: alpha, beta, delta, and now omicron.
Viruses can evade immune responses to them by changing the genetic material that makes them up. When a variant has enough of these changes to be significantly different from previous viruses, it is considered to be a “Variant of Concern” or “Variant of Interest.” CDC monitors these virus variants using genome sequencing, which looks at the unique genetic code of each virus. The Wadsworth Center, along with multiple laboratories across the state and throughout the country, selects samples from positive COVID-19 tests for sequencing. These data are uploaded into public databases, primarily GISAID, and analyzed to track the presence of variants in New York State.
The two primary strains of COVID-19 that are currently circulating, LP.8.1 and XEC, appear to be less severe than the FLiRT and Delta variants that caused most of the 2023-2024 outbreak. However, the virus can still make people very sick and hospitalized, or even fatally. Vaccination remains the best way to prevent these symptoms, and to reduce the risk of serious complications, like long-term infections and heart disease.
About the Author
