COVID-19 variant KP.3.1.1 becomes dominant in US

The KP.3.1.1 COVID-19 variant is the dominant strain of the virus, the latest projections from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show.The agency's Nowcast data tracker, which displays COVID-19 estimates and projections for two-week periods, projects the KP.3.1.1 variant accounting for 27.8% of positive infections, followed by KP.3 at 20.1% in the two-week stretch starting July 21 and ending Aug. 3."The KP.3.1.1 variant is very similar to other circulating variants in the United States. All current lineages are descendants of JN.1, which emerged in late 2023," Rosa Norman, a spokesperson at the CDC, previously told USA TODAY."At this time, we anticipate that COVID-19 treatments and vaccines will continue to work against all circulating variants. CDC will continue to monitor the severity of variants and will monitor vaccine effectiveness."