New COVID Variant JN.1 Rapidly Spreading but Vaccines Remain Effective

Despite the rapid spread of the new variant, hospitalization rates remain lower than last year, and symptoms are familiar to those of previous variants.

New COVID variant JN.1, a descendant of omicron, is rapidly spreading, representing between 39% to half of the cases, according to pre-holiday stats from the CDC.
Lab data indicates that the updated vaccines, as well as existing covid rapid tests and medical treatments, are effective with this latest iteration.
New covid hospitalizations are trending upward, although rates are still substantially lower than last December’s tally.
Symptoms of the covid variants currently circulating will likely be familiar — such as a runny nose, sore throat, cough, fatigue, fever, and muscle aches.
Vaccination is the single best way to boost immunity to the worst of the circulating nasties. Everyone over 6 months old is eligible for flu and Covid-19 vaccines.