COVID-19 cases are back on the rise as new variants enter into communities and sweep through the people. With cases rising, hospitalizations are increasing as well, bringing us back to a concerning point. While the uptick is causing concern, luckily the number of hospitalizations is still significantly lower than what it was in the early days of the pandemic.

Scientists constantly develop new vaccines to immunize against new variants, but by the time the vaccine is ready for release, there is already another newer variant hitting people. The virus has become very good at manipulating itself and mutating into a new version, each time wreaking havoc. The vaccines that are released by the time a new variant comes onto the scene still help in fighting against it. They are just not able to provide as much protection against the newer variants since they were developed before the variant was predominantly around.

The current dominant variant is Eris, a variant of Omicron.

Threatening to dethrone Eris as the dominant strain is another upcoming variant called Pirola. Pirola is the newest variant to be detected and it is spreading rapidly the way that Omicron had spread quickly as well. The issue that is most prominently concerning doctors is that Pirola is showing rapid mutation as well. By the end of August, 24 reported cases were seen in different countries, and they are all seemingly unlinked. At least 3 of the reported cases were in the United States.

Wastewater tests showed traces of Pirola as well, even when there was no reported case in the city that was tested.

Given the unconnected nature of the reported cases and the presence of the virus in wastewater, experts believe that Pirola is spread around more than we know. If this is the case, it would mean the virus managed to spread widely around the world in a matter of days.

Many hospitalizations are starting to happen again as well with the uptick in cases. Doctors say that just earlier this year they saw very few COVID-19 patients coming in. Now there are several cases coming in daily. With hospitalizations increasing, so is the death toll. In the last weeks of August, nearly 1,000 people passed due to COVID-19 infection. This number is noticeably lower than peak pandemic numbers were showing, but it is still higher than the count was in weeks prior.

The symptoms of these variants appear to be roughly the same as prior ones. If you begin having flu-like symptoms, we recommend testing to be safe. In the meantime, look out for notifications regarding booster shots. There are boosters expected to be released soon to the public in mid-September.