A new report from the Vermont Health Department shows COVID levels slowly increasing across the state, just as a new variant known as JN.1 is becoming the dominant strain.
Although cases continue to steadily rise, the health department says the number of overall cases this winter may be lower than it originally projected.
John Davy, an epidemiologist at the Health Department, says data based on hospitalizations, emergency room and urgent care center visits, and schools show that the number of cases is now at the higher end of the "Low" rating.
Davy says the new JN.1 strain doesn't pose any unusual problems. But he is encouraging Vermonters to take safety precautions — particularly if they plan to be around higher risk individuals.
"The same protective stances still work — staying home when sick, covering coughs, wearing a mask when appropriate," Davy says. "So we don't really — we wouldn't change our guidance based on the prevalence of JN.1 or any of the other currently circulating variants."
Davy is hopeful that the impact of COVID this winter in Vermont will be somewhat less severe than what officials anticipated.
"I think it's still possible that COVID and our other respiratory diseases will stay perhaps towards even in the lower end of what we were expecting to see," he says.
Davy says the COVID vaccines remain effective against the new JN.1 strain.
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