The coronavirus pandemic continues to roll on in the United States, and there has been so much talk about variants spreading in the United States.
Experts have expressed concern about variants like delta, lambda and epsilon, with others pointing toward a potential zeta variant, too.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a full list of variants of concern and interest. The variants of concern are the ones we’re pretty familiar with, like the alpha variant (which was originally found in the United Kingdom) and the delta variant, which has become the dominant variant in the United States.
But the variants of interest paint another picture of what’s happening in the United States. There are a select number of variants moving through the U.S. that you might not realize exist. Here is the list of the CDC’s variants of interest, which you could see pop up in the US.
All the information below comes from the CDC.
The B.1.427 variant
This variant does not have a label from the World Health Organization. It was first identified in California and has about 20% increased transmission.
The B.1.429 variant
Like the B.1.427 variant, this one doesn’t have a WHO label. It was first found in California, too.
Eta variant
This variant — which is the B.1.525 variant — was originally identified in the United Kingdom and Nigeria. The CDC said the variant has “potential reduction in neutralization” by the COVID-19 vaccine antibodies.
Iota variant
The variant — also known as B.1.526 — was found in New York back in November 2020. The variant has shown it can last against some antibody treatments.
Kappa variant
The kappa variant — known as B.1.617.1 — was first identified in India back in December 2020. It has been known to have evaded some antibody treatments.
B.1.617.3 variant
This variant was discovered in India back in October 2020. It does not have a WHO label. It has been shown to evade some antibody treatments.