Flirting with Covid

It’s rather ironic that the new Covid-19 variants have been dubbed FLiRT considering that one of the health protocols at the height of the pandemic was to avoid physical contact and maintain social distancing. It reminds me of Dionne Warwick’s old song with the lyrics that go, “What do you get when you kiss a guy? You get enough germs to catch pneumonia…”

But levity aside, what exactly are the FLiRT variants? Apparently, they are new variants that begin with either KP or JN and descended from the JN.1 variant that is very similar to the Omicron strain. The FLiRT variants have two more protein spikes than the JN.1 – and these added spikes enable them to evade immunity and may have a greater ability to transmit.

The nickname “FLiRT” came from Canadian professor of evolutionary biology Dr. T. Ryan Gregory who combined the first letters of the spike protein mutations (amino acid changes) of the new variants. “Each amino acid has its own letter abbreviation. FLiRT is F456L + R346T, or phenylalanine (F) to leucine (L) at position 456 and arginine (R) to threonine (T) at position 346,” Gregory wrote on X last March.

Experts have expressed concern about a possible uptick in Covid-19 cases during summer with people traveling more and going on holiday breaks – thereby increasing their exposure to the more highly transmissible FLiRT variants that are now circulating in many countries and are reportedly becoming the dominant strains in the United States.

Reports are coming in about rising cases of infections and hospitalizations in many places, among them France, with health authorities reporting a continued rise for the “sixth week running.”

Hawaii’s Department of Health dashboard is also showing an uptick in Covid-19 cases. In a statement issued last Wednesday, State Epidemiologist Sarah Kemble said that, “This week, the dashboard shows that COVID-19 test positivity is higher than expected and climbing, and that ED visits and hospital admissions for COVID-19 are also going up.”

Last week, the Health Ministry of Singapore announced that it was closely watching the recent increase in Covid-19 cases that reached 25,900 earlier in May. According to Health Minister Ong Ye Kung – who has advised the wearing of masks once again – Singapore is “at the beginning of the wave, where it is steadily rising,” and estimates the wave to peak “between mid- and end-June.”

Cases involving the new variants have also been reported in the UK and Israel. In the Philippines, the Department of Health says the FLiRT variants may have likely entered the country, but the reported cases so far have been mild and manageable. Nevertheless, the Bureau of Quarantine is on heightened alert and will conduct thorough screening of visitors from countries where the new variants have been detected.

According to health experts, as much as 60 percent of those who have been infected – especially young people – may be asymptomatic. However, those belonging to the vulnerable groups such as the elderly, the very young, the pregnant, immunocompromised individuals and those with long-term health conditions have to be extra careful and vigilant especially when they display some of the symptoms of Covid-19.

The emergence of new variants only goes to show that Covid-19, as projected, will continue to mutate. Just like the flu, Covid-19 is here to stay and remains a significant threat to public health. Although there are some people who are against vaccination, there is no denying that vaccines have been effective in providing protection against earlier strains like the Delta and Omicron, and in preventing more deaths. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as well as health experts recommend the updated 2023-2024 vaccines for everyone five years and older to protect against serious illness from Covid-19.

Considering our devastating experience during the pandemic which was one of the biggest challenges that the world faced in recent history – infecting over 704 million and causing the death of more than seven million worldwide – we were really hoping to see strong cooperation among nations particularly the big ones like the US, China, Russia and European countries.

Yet today, we have an ongoing war in Ukraine that could spread to Europe, while the conflict in the Middle East continues to reverberate around the world. The underlying rivalry between the US and China exacerbated by developments in the South China Sea are stoking fears that an escalation could result in regional instability or worse, World War III. All these are making people wonder and ask the question – will we ever have honest-to-goodness peace in the world?

Unquestionably, President Marcos has emerged as one of the major leaders in the world stage especially after being the keynote speaker at the Singapore Shangri-La Dialogue last Friday. The president acknowledged that “China’s determining influence over the security situation and the economic evolution” in the Indo-Pacific is “a permanent fact.”

But he also recognized the “stabilizing presence of the United States,” saying it is “crucial to regional peace.”

The president called on both nations to manage their rivalry in a responsible manner saying this is critical to the continued stability in the region, yet he also correctly pointed out that “peace, security and stability are the business of all countries.”

“It has become even more crucial for us to assert that the future of our region will be driven not by one or two powerful countries, but by all of us,” the president underscored – reminding everyone to look to the past as it “inspires the needed clarity and foresight to confront the challenges of the present and build a future to which we all aspire.”

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