New COVID-19 variant arrives in Arizona

A new strain of COVID-19, known as Stratus, has been detected in Arizona and is spreading worldwide.

This most recently reported dominant U.S. strain, which has been detected in Arizona, is specifically known as Nimbus or NB.1.8.1. It has been associated with a brutal sore throat, sometimes called a “razor-blade” sore throat.

Dr. David Engelthaler, the Executive Director of the ASU’s Health Observatory, joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss this new strain of COVID-19.

“This is really just the latest flavor of Omicron,” Dr. Engelthaler said, “…so it’s still that virus, the one that is…less severe, more the upper respiratory disease.”

Dr. Engelthaler explained the variant is a new name for the most recent variant, but not a new threat.

“…so we are not really seeing any different disease than what we have been seeing over the past couple of years,” Dr. Engelthaler said.

Some symptoms of this new variant can include coughing, a severe cold, bad sore throat, stuffy nose. Dr. Engelthaler stated the new variant of COVID-19 typically lasts a few days, but in some cases can last longer.

“Stratus just has the right combination of mutations that’s helping it evade the antibodies that maybe we got from an infection a year ago,” Dr. Engelthaler explained.

Dr. Engelthaler debunked the theory that Stratus was more contagious than other variants by stating, “…it just spreads better than the other ones because people don’t have the right immune profile…the right antibodies to knock it down.”

Dr. Engelthaler did emphasize that the the new strain is spreading just as quickly as any Omicron variant has.

He also explained how past vaccines should give some protection against the new strain, and the immunity from previous vaccines or infections should also be effective in providing protection.

“…it’s also mostly upper respiratory, so the overall risk pattern is gonna be really low for most people,” Dr. Engelthaler said. “…you’re still getting enough protection that will certainly prevent you from getting seriously ill.”