Democracy Dies in Darkness

New coronavirus variant JN.1 is spreading fast. Here’s what to know.

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Updated December 26, 2023 at 1:30 p.m. EST|Published December 20, 2023 at 1:44 a.m. EST
Coronavirus vaccines at a health center in Jakarta, Indonesia. Updated vaccines are expected to increase protection against JN.1, as they do for other variants, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Bay Ismoyo/AFP/Getty Images)
6 min

The rapid growth of the coronavirus subvariant JN.1 during the holiday season could fuel winter waves of illness in the United States and beyond, public health authorities warn.

JN.1 caused nearly half of new U.S. coronavirus infections in the two weeks leading up to Christmas, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates. The World Health Organization on Dec. 19 declared JN.1 a variant of interest “due to its rapidly increasing spread,” from 3 percent of global cases in early November to 27.1 percent a month later.