Corporate media outlets have unleashed a new fear campaign to promote the latest “Eris” Covid variant.
While warning the public about the Eris, or EG.5, variant, the mainstream media is pushing for the American people to begin masking up, again.
According to establishment news outlets, Eris, named after the Greek goddess of strife and discord, is beginning to rapidly spread.
The new strain is a descendant of the Omicron variant which first emerged in late 2021.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “EG.5 is a descendent lineage of XBB.1.9.2, which has the same spike amino acid profile as XBB.1.5.”
The WHO has listed EG.5 as a “variant of interest.”
EG.5 symptoms are “unlikely to differ much from those caused by other omicron subvariants,” which would “include fever, cough, fatigue, muscle aches, and headache,” NBC News reported.
Scott Roberts, MD, a Yale Medicine infectious diseases specialist, said Eris is not much different from other recent strains.
“There is some extra degree of immune evasiveness because of a slight difference in genotype,” Roberts added.
Yale Medicine states:
However, EG.5 does have one new mutation in its spike protein (the part that facilitates virus entry into the host cell) that can potentially evade some of the immunity acquired after an infection or vaccination.
“I am not aware of data that suggests EG.5 leads to worse cases of COVID-19 compared to prior variants,” Roberts admitted.
NBC News noted, “Experts agree that many people probably have underlying protection from severe disease already.”
The first case of EG.5 was reported on February 17, 2023.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that EG.5 was the dominant SARS-CoV-2 strain in the third week of August in the U.S.
The variant is responsible for 20.6% of cases of COVID-19 in the United States.
The second most contracted variant that week at 13.3% of cases, was FL 1.5.1, known as Fornax.
The CDC reported that Covid cases have increased by 14% in the past week and deaths are up 8%.
According to Worldometer, the seven-day average of Covid cases was nearly 27,000 as of August 18.
When compared to exactly a year ago, it was over 768,000.
The pandemic high was 3.4 million COVID-19 cases on January 26, 2022.
In light of the renewed Covid fears, the corporate media is now scrambling to push for Americans to start wearing masks again.
The New York Times suggests:
“As for how to behave in response to this trend, that’s a tricky question.
“Many experts still recommend wearing a mask in crowded indoor settings, but they know that not everyone will want to do so.
“If you’re at high risk for serious illness, you might want to mask up at the grocery store and avoid eating indoors at restaurants.
“Other people might just want to wear a mask at the airport, to avoid getting sick during that big summer vacation.”
The Washington Post urges:
“Vaccines and boosters still should be encouraged, as should safe social practices such as wearing face masks and keeping rooms well ventilated, health experts say.”
The TODAY show recommends “wearing a mask in crowded, indoor spaces.”
National Geographic published an article titled: “The EG.5 COVID variant is spiking in the U.S. Is it time to mask up?”
“We should take all of these subvariants very seriously. Using testing kits, when symptoms suggest it could be COVID-19, and masking up and staying home if COVID positive, can slow the spread of the new variant. We need to minimize the spread of the virus as much as we can,” Angela Rasmussen – a virologist at Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization in Saskatoon, Canada – told the outlet.
The UK’s Independent published an article with the headline: “New COVID wave has begun and masks should be worn again, scientists warn.”
A New York hospital has already reinstated its mask mandate because of the new variant.
Syracuse’s Upstate Hospital announced this week: “Effective immediately, mandatory masking is required by all staff, visitors, and patients in clinical areas of Upstate University Hospital, Upstate Community Hospital, and ambulatory clinical spaces.”
The updated COVID vaccines are expected to be released by Pfizer and Moderna this fall and are said to combat the Eris variant.
“These new results, which show that our updated COVID-19 vaccine generates a robust immune response against the rapidly spreading EG.5 and FL.1.5.1 strains, reflects our updated vaccine’s ability to address emerging COVID-19 threats,” Moderna President Stephen Hoge, MD, said in a press release.
A Pfizer spokesperson claimed in a statement to CNBC that the company’s upcoming shot “effectively neutralized” several omicron variants, including Eris and XBB.1.5, in a recent study on mice.
