COVID ‘Eris’ variant: The symptoms and how dangerous it is?

There’s a new COVID-19 variant dominating infections in the U.S. EG.5 — or “Eris,” as it’s been nicknamed — was identified in China in February and detected in the U.S. in April, and now accounts for more than 17% of COVID-19 cases nationwide, which is the most of any variant.

Here’s what you need to know about the new variant.

How do symptoms compare to other COVID-19 variants?

EG.5 is a subvariant within the Omicron family of coronaviruses, so it’s pretty closely related to the XBB variant that’s been circulating for a while and was dominant months earlier. You can’t tell which variant you have just based on symptoms (that requires genomic sequencing, which isn’t a routine part of clinical care). But you can expect symptoms from EG.5 to look a lot like what we’ve come to know from other COVID-19 variants, including:

• Fever

• Cough

• Stuffy or runny nose

• Sore throat

• New loss of taste or smell

The World Health Organization has classified EG.5 as a “variant of interest,” but said it doesn’t seem to pose any more of a public health threat than other variants. But while EG.5 doesn’t appear to be any more dangerous, experts say it isn’t any weaker either. If your symptoms from EG.5 seem less severe than what you experienced with a previous COVID-19 illness, it’s not because the virus is losing strength — it could be the result of your own built-up resilience.

Will vaccines and boosters protect me from EG.5?

Although the bivalent vaccine currently in use was designed to work against the BA.5 subvariant, which accounted for most COVID cases last summer, doctors say it still appears to offer some protection, because there’s just enough overlap between these Omicron subvariants.

The new vaccine that will be available this fall is designed to combat XBB, which is one subvariant removed from EG.5.

While the ideal vaccine would make us totally impervious to infection, breakthrough cases can happen even among fully vaccinated individuals. But experts say the key thing to keep in mind is that vaccines are an important defense against severe illness, hospitalization and death.