COVID levels in the U.S. remain high, according to wastewater detections, which is a retreat from the CDC’s label of “very high” earlier in the summer. About 15% of COVID tests reported to the CDC are positive, and that rate has been trending downward, as have been COVID-related emergency room visits and hospitalizations.

That means like other variations of COVID, the symptoms are similar: The new vaccines are monovalent, or target one variant. This shot targets the KP.2, but since XEC has similarities between KP.2 and XEC, experts believe that the vaccine should work.

Even as COVID-19 activity remains high in the United States, a new variant - XEC is spreading rapidly in Europe and other parts of the world. Although few cases have been detected in the US so far, experts are projecting that XEC could be on track to become the dominant strain in the country this fall.