CDC Official: New COVID Variant Doesn’t Appear to Be More Severe

A COVID-19 variant responsible for the vast majority of recent U.S. cases likely isn’t more severe than prior strains, according to early data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Although the agency is waiting for more data to make a better assessment, the variant, JN.1, doesn’t cause more severe disease for now, CDC official Eduardo Azziz-Baumgartner told CBS News.
When asked if JN.1’s symptoms are more severe, he stated that “there are early signals that that may not be the case” due to medical record data. “Now, it’s important to remember that how a virus affects an individual is a unique ‘n’ of one,” the official added. “It could be very severe. People could die from a virus that, to the general population, may be milder.”

Read Full Article Here