COVID is rising in California. Here’s how to protect yourself from FLiRT subvariants

 What are FLiRT subvariants?

The FLiRT subvariants — officially known as KP.2, KP.3 and KP.1.1 — have overtaken the dominant winter variant, JN.1. For the two-week period that ended Saturday, they were estimated to account for a combined 50.4% of the nation’s coronavirus infections, up from 20% a month earlier.

 

Despite their increased transmissibility, the new mutations don’t appear to result in more severe disease. And the vaccine is expected to continue working well, given the new subvariants are only slightly different from the winter version.

 

“It’s been quite a while since we’ve had a new dominant variant in the U.S.,” Dr. David Bronstein, an infectious diseases specialist at Kaiser Permanente Southern California told The Times earlier this month. “With each of these variants that takes over from the one before it, we do see increased transmissibility — it’s easier to spread from person to person. So, that’s really the concern with FLiRT.”

 

What are officials seeing?

Doctors say they are not seeing a dramatic jump in severely ill people, and COVID levels still remain relatively low. But there are signs of a rise in infections that could lead to the summer coronavirus season beginning earlier than expected.

 

Over the seven-day period that ended May 20, about 3.8% of COVID-19 tests in California came back positive; in late April, that share was 1.9%. (Last summer’s peak test-positive rate was 12.8%, at the end of August.)

How can I protect myself?

Vaccines

Doctors urged people to consider getting up to date on their vaccinations — particularly if they are at higher risk of severe complications from COVID-19.

 

In California, just 36% of seniors ages 65 and older have received the updated COVID-19 vaccine that first became available in September. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has urged everyone ages 6 months and older to get one dose of the updated vaccine. A second dose is also recommended for those ages 65 and older, as long as at least four months have passed since their last shot.

 

It’s especially important that older people get at least one updated dose. Of the patients he has seen recently who had serious COVID, said UC San Francisco infectious diseases specialist Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, all of them hadn’t gotten an updated vaccine since September, and were older or immunocompromised.

 

Behavior

Avoid sick people. Some sick people might pass off their symptoms as a “cold,” when it could be the start of a COVID-19 illness.

 

Testing

Test if you’re sick, and test daily. It’s sometimes taking longer after the onset of illness for a COVID-19 rapid test to show up as positive. Consider taking a rapid COVID test once a day for three to five consecutive days after the onset of cough-and-cold symptoms, said Dr. Elizabeth Hudson, regional chief of infectious disease at Kaiser Permanente Southern California. Doing so can help the sickened person take measures to later isolate themselves and limit spread of the illness to others.

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