Over the past two weeks, there have been almost 10,000 new COVID-19 cases reported statewide in Georgia.  According to the Georgia Department of Public Health, the 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, but is not resulting in as many deaths as earlier strains of the virus. In Chattooga County, there have been 56 new COVID-19 cases over the past two weeks, according to numbers released this past week by the Georgia Department of Public Health. The overall COVID numbers remain relatively low and health professionals do not foresee another massive surge in cases soon. But they say COVID is being treated like the flu.