A highly transmissible COVID-19 variant is causing widespread concern in California this summer. Following the spread of the Omicron subvariant ‘FLiRT’ in May, its subvariant ‘KP.3.1.1’ has become the dominant strain since July, leading to a sharp increase in the number of COVID-19 cases, including among the Korean community.

On August 12th, the LA Times reported that COVID-19 positivity rates in California reached 14.3% in the first week of August. This surpasses the peak numbers from last summer and winter and represents a 10% increase compared to a month ago. The article suggested that factors like the heatwave, which has led to more people staying indoors, could be contributing to the rise in cases. Additionally, the fact that most adults have gone a significant amount of time since receiving their COVID-19 vaccinations makes them more vulnerable to infection.

The KP.3.1.1 variant is particularly driving the COVID-19 surge. Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at UC San Francisco, explained that “KP.3.1.1 is extremely transmissible and has slightly stronger immune evasion capabilities compared to other viruses,” adding that “this virus emerged suddenly this summer.” The article further reported that even individuals who had never been infected throughout the entire pandemic are now falling victim to this highly transmissible variant. According to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on August 9th, COVID-19 levels in California wastewater have been reported at "very high" levels for four consecutive weeks. Last summer, COVID-19 levels in California wastewater remained at "high" levels for eight weeks, but the "very high" level had not been observed.
In LA County, the level of coronavirus detected in wastewater surged to 54% of last winter's peak during a ten-day period starting on July 10th. This is a significant increase from the 44% recorded a week earlier.



<Hwang, Eui-kyung>