The main markers the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) uses to track COVID activity showed small rises today from very low levels, including wastewater SARS-CoV-2 detections, which rose from the minimal to low level over the past week.
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Most of the rise in wastewater detections was due to a steady rise in the western region, with a very slight increase in the southern region.
The CDC considers wastewater levels an early indicator. The agency also reported slight rises in two other early indicators, test positivity and emergency department visits for COVID. Test positivity is currently highest in Arizona, California, Hawaii, and Nevada.
Upward trend comes with variant shifts
The small rise comes amid rising proportions of JN.1 offshoots. Last week in its variant proportion update, the CDC said two of them—KP.2 and KP.3—made up 41.2% of sequenced samples. The two variants both contain the FLiRT (F for L at position 456 and R for T at position 346) mutation, which may give them the capacity to evade earlier immunity from illness or vaccination.
On June 5, the Food and Drug Administration Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) will meet to discuss what COVID strain or strains to include in 2024-25 COVID vaccines.
Current vaccines target the XBB.1.5 variant, but JN.1 has become the dominant strain. The World Health Organization COVID vaccine advisory group recently met and recommended a switch to a monovalent (single-strain) vaccine containing the JN.1 antigen. Some countries such as Singapore have reported rising cases, partly due to increasing proportions of JN.1 variants.