A Mayo Clinic virologist explains COVID-19 FLiRT variants

A new variant of COVID-19, known as FLiRT, is now the most dominant strain in the U.S. This variant, which evolved from the omicron strain, is characterized by changes in its spike protein - the part of the virus that binds to host cells. Dr. Matthew Binnicker, director of the Clinical Virology Laboratory at Mayo Clinic, says that these changes could increase the virus' ability to infect cells and evade the immune system, even in people who have previously been infected or vaccinated.
"This variant can evade the immune response more effectively than prior versions of the virus. If you've been infected, or you've been vaccinated, and you've got some antibodies in your system, those antibodies may not recognize the protein on the surface of the virus as well," says Dr. Binnicker.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this new variant is now responsible for more than 28% of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. Dr. Binnicker says there is a potential for an increase in cases during the summer months, with a more significant surge expected in the fall and winter.
"I anticipate we'll see an uptick in cases with this more transmissible virus that can evade the immune system. But what I'm really watching are the fall and winter months because that's typically when we see the largest surge in respiratory viral infections," he says.
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