FLiRTing with a COVID summer surge? What to know about the newest family of Omicron subvariants

As of the two-week period ending May 25, 2024, KP.2, part of the FLiRT family of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariants, accounted for a 29% plurality of new COVID-19 infections in the U.S. (Credit: Songphol Thesakit—Getty Images)

As the nation begins its second summer following the end of the federal COVID-19 public health emergency, a new family of viral subvariants that virologists are calling FLiRT is on the rise.

“This is not a surprise; this is always in the cards,” Edwin Michael, PhD, an epidemiologist at the University of South Florida College of Public Health, tells Fortune. “The mutations will keep happening.”