New Covid variant HV.1 variant becomes dominant as America’s booster vaccine program lags

A new coronavirus variant is spreading across the United States, but experts have urged people not to be alarmed.

The mutant strain — dubbed HV.1 — is a mutation on the EG.5 variant which sparked concern earlier this year.

It is now dominant in the US behind 25 percent of cases, with experts saying it is more transmissible than other variants. There is no sign it is more likely to cause severe disease.

Experts are not raising the alarm over the mutant strain, however, saying there will ‘always be new variants’ as Covid continues to spread and mutate.

Concerns are being raised over America’s slow booster program, however, with uptake branded ‘abysmal’ this weekend with less than three percent of Americans having come forward a month into the rollout.

Covid cases and hospitalizations are currently trending downward and deaths are flatlining, although experts warn cold weather leading people to spend more time indoors could lead to an uptick in cases.

Dr Amesh Adalja, an infectious diseases expert at Johns Hopkins University, told WION: ‘It is important to recognize that there will always be new variants of SARS-CoV-2.

‘[This is] just as there are with any other endemic respiratory virus and most will not be of concern to anyone.’

Dr Ross Kedl, an immunologist at the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine, added: ‘All that people know at this point is that it’s increasing in representation.

‘There’s no evidence that it’s more severe.’

And Dr William Schaffner, an infectious diseases expert at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Tennessee, told Prevention: ‘I don’t think people should be very concerned about this.

‘Some of the symptoms recorded have been cough, fatigue, congestion and a runny nose. That sounds pretty much like the common cold.’ 

Scientists say Covid will continue to mutate and create new variants as new cases arise. 

But they add that there is little need to fixate on each new strain that comes along because most will not raise the risk of serious disease. 

HV.1 was first detected in late July in Costa Rica, according to Covid variant tracking website outbreak.info.

It has now spread to more than 41 countries — including the UK, Canada and Israel — and a total of 4,397 cases have been detected, mostly in the United States.

This is likely to be a massive underestimate, however, because many cases are not checked for variants.

The mutant strain was spotted in the US back in July and has been accounting for an ever higher proportion of cases since.

By the end of August it was behind three percent of cases, according to figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

By the final week of September, however, it was behind 12 percent of all Covid cases with latest estimates for this month estimating it is now behind one in four infections.

California — America’s most populous state — has the most cases at 115 recorded, followed by New York — a ‘bellwether’ state — at 70 cases.

The mutant strain has several mutations on its spike protein which experts say may make it better able to dodge immunity and infect cells.

There is no sign that it is causing different symptoms at present either, with doctors likening its symptoms — including a cough and runny nose — to the common cold.

The US is currently rolling out an updated Covid booster vaccine which has been made available to everyone over the age of six months. Top advisers say, however, that only those over 65 years old need to get inoculated.

The vaccine is based on the XBB.1.5 Covid variant — which was dominant this summer — with experts saying HV.1 is a ‘grandchild’ of this strain.

They suggest that the vaccine will still work well against severe disease caused by HV.1 because it only has a few further mutations.

It comes as Covid cases and hospitalizations continue to trend downward nationwide.

Latest CDC data showed the positivity rate — proportion of tests that detected the virus — was down to 8.7 percent in the week to October 21, compared to 9.4 percent in the prior week.

There were also 13,036 Covid patients hospitalized in the week to October 21, the latest available, down 4.6 percent on the 13,652 at the same time last week.

For comparison, at the peak over the last two years there were 145,636 Covid patients in hospitals on January 8, 2022.

Covid deaths are currently flatlining at 1,347 being recorded every week, with preliminary data suggesting they may soon start to fall.

Some experts warn, however, indicators will start to trend upward in the coming weeks because cooler weather will lead to more people staying indoors.

There are also gatherings for the holidays upcoming, including Thanksgiving and Christmas, which will lead to different generations coming together — potentially fueling the spread of Covid.

Dr Kelly Oakeson, chief scientist at the Utah Department of Health, told Deseret News: ‘If this was happening in the summertime, it might have less of an impact on everything.

‘But now that it’s happening in the fall/winter, people are indoors, it’s getting colder outside, there’s more holidays.

‘You’re probably going to see an increase in cases for sure. Is that driven by HV.1? Is that driven solely by the seasonality, what time of year it is?

‘No, it’s probably a combination of all of those things… we’ve seen this now, year after year.’

Concerns have also been raised over the Covid variant JN.1, which is a mutated version of the strain BA.2.86, or ‘Pirola’, that scientists warned could spark a new wave of infections.

There have been 51 cases reported worldwide to date across 11 countries including the United States, the UK and Germany.

Some scientists fear this strain is more transmissible than others and could spark a new wave of infections.

Dr Oakeson described this mutant strain as ‘alarming’.

‘We’re definitely watching it,’ she said.

‘I’m not sure I’m at the same level fo concern I was with BA.2.86 just because this one is a descendent of those and we didn’t see that take off in the US like it did in other parts of the world.’