What to know about the JN.1 variant of COVID-19

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The JN.1 variant is here, just in time for the holidays By Jamie Ducharme Health Correspondent As (bad) luck would have it, a new variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 is gaining a foothold in the U.S. just as an estimated 115 million people gear up for holiday travel. It’s called JN.1, and it’s the latest in a long line of Omicron descendants to cause lots of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. The timing of JN.1’s rise is undeniably bad, but there is some good news. Leading health authorities, including the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says there’s no indication that JN.1 causes more severe disease than prior variants. Existing tests, treatments, and vaccines—including the latest COVID-19 booster shot, which was released a few months ago—are also expected to work against it. In short, there doesn’t seem to be any reason to panic about JN.1. But its emergence is a reminder that the virus is still with us, and still worth avoiding if at all possible. Masks, vaccines, and ventilation will be important tools this holiday season. READ MORE  Share This Story

What Else to Read Severe Obesity Is Increasing in Young U.S. Children By MIKE STOBBE / AP A new study in the journal Pediatrics shows that the rate of U.S. children ages 2 to 4 who are severely obese is rising. Read More » 6 Myths About IBD, Debunked By Lindsay Lyon Think IBD only affects the gut? That very little can be done about quality of life? Wrong. Read on. Read More » How Alternative Medicine Can Help People With Asthma By Markham Heid Mind-body therapies such as yoga and breath training are popular among those with severe asthma, though evidence is mixed. Read More » Why You Shouldn't Love Your Kids More Than Your Partner By Belinda Luscombe Research strongly suggests that children whose parents love each other are much happier. (Originally published in 2019.) Read More » How Grief Upsets Your Gut Health By Connie Chang and Juli Fraga Grief can throw the body off course, upsetting the gastrointestinal tract. Read More »

ONE LAST READ The pervasive biases faced by pregnant Black women Giving birth in the U.S. remains a fraught experience for Black women, who continue to face bias, discrimination, and suboptimal prenatal and maternity care that is killing them at twice to three times the rate of white pregnant women. In this New York Times story, Roni Caryn Rabin delves into the reasons why Black women are more likely to have worse pregnancy outcomes because of long-standing biases and prejudices embedded in our medical and social systems, and how some health centers are attempting to address these discrepancies with specialized training. Read More »

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