COVID Is Surging Right Now. Here's What Alarms Doctors The Most.

We don’t typically associate hot weather with viral illnesses, but COVID has thwarted that in recent years. This summer seems to be no exception: R ecent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that COVID test positivity rates and emergency room visits are steadily rising, especially along both coasts .

The culprit: the FLiRT variants. This family of variants, which evolved from omicron, took off in the spring . Now, they account for over 50% of infections.

According to Dr. Robert H. Hopkins, Jr. , the medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, this year’s summer wave got an early start ― and it doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon. “I suspect it’s going to increase,” Hopkins told HuffPost. “It seems like we’re seeing more and more states showing increased levels of activity.”

Here’s what to know about the summer COVID spike:

What’s up with the new FLiRT variants?

The FLiRT variants are offshoots of JN.1, which was the dominant variant in the U.S. this past winter.

This family of variants appears to be very contagious, thanks to mutations in the spike protein that may improve the virus’s ability to bind to human cells. “When we look at their molecular profile, some of those mutations potentially could allow the [virus] to escape from previous immunity,” Hopkins explained.

According to Dr. Nikhil Bhayani , an assistant professor in the department of internal medicine at the Burnett School of Medicine at Texas Christian University, one variant in particular is gaining steam right now: KP.3. It’s currently responsible for roughly 25% of cases.

Two other variants in the FLiRT family, KP.2 and KP.1.1 , make up 22.5% and 7.5% of infections, respectively.