A January JAMA article starts off with:
Parents often bask in the glow of their children’s accomplishments, so if SARS-CoV-2 variants were like people, BA.2.86 would be busting its buttons right about now.
A little whimsical, but not a bad metaphor.
BA.2.86’s spawn, JN.1, has become the dominant SARS-CoV-2 variant in the US, status its parent variant never achieved. Fortunately, although COVID-19 cases have surged, hospitalizations and deaths from the disease are still considerably lower than they were the same time a year earlier.
…
JN.1 appears to be highly contagious, perhaps more than any other member of the Omicron family, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine infectious disease and health policy professor William Schaffner, MD, said in an interview. “That’s maybe why it’s outrunning them now.”
…
The news wasn’t all bad, though. Despite apparently higher infection levels, indicators of COVID-19 illness requiring medical attention were lower than a year earlier, the CDC said. For example, emergency department visits for COVID-19 were down 21%. And the percentage of all US deaths that were attributed to COVID-19 was 3.6% (839 deaths) for the week ending December 30, 2023, compared with 5.2% (3658 deaths) for the week ending December 31, 2022, according to provisional CDC data.
…
Given the high JN.1 infection rates, people with respiratory symptoms should assume they have COVID-19, even though they might test negative for the first few days, Osterholm said. “If you have any symptoms at all of respiratory illness, don’t go to a public or private event, especially indoors.”
So, more infectious, perhaps less dangerous in terms of short-term illness, but there’s nothing in the article about long covid.
(I just realized this is from January, not sure why it’s in my feed today)