Watch Out For Strong New Covid-19 Variant in Michigan

Symptoms to watch out for with the new, highly transmissible COVID-19 HV.1 variant in Michigan.

There was a huge late Summer surge of COVID-19 cases in Michigan as well as the rest of the United States.  Nearly a third of the recent reports are the new HV.1 variant according to Today's interview with the professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center Dr. William Schaffner,

You can almost think of HV.1 as a grandchild of Omicron.  The COVID family of viruses likes to mutate.  We’ve all learned that by now.  One of the characteristics of this entire omicron family is that they are highly transmissible.

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Symptoms of COVID-19 HV.1

• Sore throat
• Congestion or stuffiness
• Runny nose
• Cough
• Fatigue
• Headache
• Muscle aches
• Fever or chills

In summary, this is a kinda good news, kinda bad news situation.  The kinda bad news is, the new HV.1 variant is likely more contagious than previous strains of COVID.  The kinda good news is, that the current COVID-19 tests will detect the virus.  Furthermore, the strains of the new HV.1 virus is very similar to previous strains which means the lasted COVID vaccine and boosters will protect most people from the harmful effects of this virus according to Very Well Health,

The variant doesn’t appear to escape immunity from the updated COVID-19 vaccines nor does it seem to cause more severe disease than other circulating variants.

Experts say the best way to prevent catching the new HV.1 variant is to simply get the latest vaccine shot.