Chattooga County saw a big jump in the number of COVID-19 cases reported over the past several days, but health officials say that the current variant is usually not life-threatening and there are fewer hospitalizations, and even fewer deaths from COVID-19 statewide compared to this time last year.

According to the Georgia Department of Public Health, this new variant, EG.5 or “ERIS,” is the dominant COVID variant spreading in the U.S. right now. It is responsible for about 17% of new COVID cases in the country, and about 16% of new cases in Georgia so far. “ERIS” has early depictions that indicate it could be more easily transmissible than some other variants.

There are some theories as to why there has been a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases being reported.  One is that with the warmer temperatures there are more people staying indoors and trying to escape the heat.  Also, with school starting back, children and teachers are in confined quarters which could lead to transmission of COVID-19.