SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A new variant of COVID-19 has emerged. XEC is spreading rapidly around the world and California is already seeing the new strain.
There's only 23 cases in the United States so far and California has three of them. It’s caught the attention of Chief Dr. Dean Blumberg of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at UC Davis Health.
“We are still in early days so it could be a dominant strain, or it could fizzle out and die. It’s very difficult to predict. It does have some advantages in the lab over currently circulating strains, predominantly the KP strains," said Blumberg.
According to the CDC, as of this week, omicron subvariant KP.3.1.1 accounts for 53% of new COVID cases. Omicron remains the dominant variant.
Dr. Olivia Kasirye with Sacramento County’s Public Health Office speaks to the trends seen locally.
“We are doing continuing surveillance and what we are seeing right now is the trends are going downward for COVID but we do know that as we get into the winter season which we now call the respiratory virus season that starts October 1,” said Dr. Kasirye.
Even with the new variant, the CDC recommends everyone six months and older get the new COVID vaccine. They say it's your best defense.
Blumberg also recognizes the community has vaccine fatigue.
“I think that’s a real concern. I don’t think anyone wants to be getting a COVID shot every four to six months as we were sometimes having done earlier in the pandemic, but we are moving more towards a once a year vaccination strategy. So, hopefully this will be coupled with the influenza vaccine so in the fall people can get their flu and COVID vaccines and hopefully that will lead to higher vaccination and less vaccine fatigue,” said Blumberg.
If you are looking for the new COVID-19 vaccine, it’s now available at CVS, Walgreens, Kaiser and Sutter Health. Sacramento County has a small supply of vaccines for those without insurance.
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