--- title: What to Know About the JN.1 Variant of SARS-CoV-2 description: There's a new variant of the COVID-19 virus spreading in the U.S. Here's what to know about the JN.1 variant of SARS-CoV-2. canonical: https://time.com/6548748/jn1-covid-variant/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-12-18T17:17:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-01-19T09:21:55.000Z article:section: Health og:title: What to Know About the JN.1 Variant og:description: There's a new variant of the COVID-19 virus, called JN.1, spreading in the U.S. og:url: https://time.com/6548748/jn1-covid-variant/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc210d4bd6e516940/698a435c457a5219f5d68435/JN.1-variant.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: A traveler wearing a mask to protect against COVID-19 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What to Know About the JN.1 Variant twitter:description: There's a new variant of the COVID-19 virus, called JN.1, spreading in the U.S. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc210d4bd6e516940/698a435c457a5219f5d68435/JN.1-variant.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # What to Know About the JN.1 Variant of the COVID-19 Virus > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: Nobel Prize in Medicine Goes to Scientists Behind mRNA COVID Vaccines [Watch (HLS stream): Nobel Prize in Medicine Goes to Scientists Behind mRNA COVID Vaccines](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4wOCJg0m.m3u8) (1:28)  _Published 2023-10-02. Two scientists won the Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for discoveries that enabled the creation of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 that were critical in slowing the pandemic and whose technology could be used in the future to develop shots against other diseases like cancer and lupus._  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Updated: Jan 19, 2026 9:21 AM UTCPublished: Dec 18, 2023 5:17 PM UTC  Travelers walk through Union Station in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 22, 2023. Travelers walk through Union Station in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 22, 2023.Kevin Dietsch—Getty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Updated: Jan 19, 2026 9:21 AM UTCPublished: Dec 18, 2023 5:17 PM UTC A new variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 is rising to prominence in the U.S. as winter illness season approaches its peak: JN.1, [yet another descendent of Omicron](https://time.com/6197597/who-names-covid-19-variants-pi/). JN.1 was first detected in the U.S. in September but spread slowly at first. In recent weeks, however, it has accounted for a growing percentage of test samples sequenced by labs affiliated with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), [surpassing 20% during the two-week period ending Dec. 9](https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-proportions). By [some projections](https://twitter.com/JPWeiland/status/1735862260633899500), it will be responsible for at least half of new infections in the U.S. before December ends. The World Health Organization (WHO) on Dec. 19 declared JN.1 a variant of interest due to its "rapidly increasing spread." But the agency [has not labeled JN.1 a variant of concern](https://www.who.int/activities/tracking-SARS-CoV-2-variants)—that is, a new strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus with potential for increased severity; decreased vaccine effectiveness; or substantial impacts on health care delivery. Here’s what to know about JN.1. ## Is JN.1 more infectious or severe than other SARS-CoV-2 variants? JN.1 is closely related to [BA.2.86](https://time.com/6308418/ba-2-86-covid-19-variant-vaccine/), a fellow Omicron descendent that first popped up in the U.S. this past summer. The two variants are nearly identical, [according to the CDC](https://www.cdc.gov/respiratory-viruses/whats-new/SARS-CoV-2-variant-JN.1.html), except for a single difference in their spike proteins, the part of the virus that allows it to invade human cells. The fact that JN.1 is responsible for a growing portion of infections suggests it is either more contagious or better at getting past our bodies’ immune defenses than previous iterations of the virus, the CDC says. But right now there is no evidence that it causes more severe disease than other viral strains, even though it may cause a bump in transmission, the CDC says. Primary symptoms are likely to be the same [as those from previous variants](https://time.com/6138293/omicron-symptoms-covid-19/): a sore or scratchy throat, fatigue, headache, congestion, coughing, and fever. ## Do vaccines, tests, and treatments work against JN.1? So far, the signs are positive. COVID-19 tests and treatments are expected to be effective against JN.1, the CDC says. And even though the [latest COVID-19 booster shot](https://time.com/6313497/new-covid-19-vaccine-booster/) was designed to target the XBB.1.5 variant, preliminary research [suggests it also generates antibodies that work against JN.1](https://time.com/6342385/new-covid-vaccine-variants-xbb/), albeit fewer of them. (As ever, vaccines will not totally block JN.1 infections, but should reduce the likelihood of death and severe disease.) In [a Dec. 13 statement](https://www.who.int/news/item/13-12-2023-statement-on-the-antigen-composition-of-covid-19-vaccines), WHO’s expert COVID-19 vaccine advisory group recommended sticking with the current XBB.1.5 vaccines, since they seem to provide at least some cross protection. ## Will JN.1 cause a COVID-19 surge in the U.S.? The CDC no longer logs every single COVID-19 diagnosis in the U.S., but other indicators of disease are up. [Wastewater surveillance data](https://www.cdc.gov/nwss/rv/COVID19-nationaltrend.html) suggest there’s a lot of COVID-19 going around, [particularly in the Northeast](https://biobot.io/data/). Hospitalizations are also on the rise, although[ far fewer people are being admitted](https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends%5Fweeklyhospitaladmissions%5Fselect%5F00) than at this time last year. Death rates are currently stable, though they tend to lag slightly behind hospitalizations. It’s too soon to say whether JN.1 will cause a significant spike in cases, although its ascendance during the [busy holiday travel and gathering season](https://time.com/6335691/covid-19-holidays-flu-rsv/) could fuel increased transmission. “Right now, we do not know to what extent JN.1 may be contributing to these increases or possible increases through the rest of December like those seen in previous years,” the CDC wrote in [a Dec. 8 update](https://www.cdc.gov/respiratory-viruses/whats-new/SARS-CoV-2-variant-JN.1.html) on the variant. The best defenses against JN.1—and other variants of SARS-CoV-2—remain getting vaccinated, masking in crowded indoor areas, and limiting exposure to people who may have been infected. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6548748/jn1-covid-variant/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6548748/jn1-covid-variant/"},"headline":"What to Know About the JN.1 Variant of the COVID-19 Virus","datePublished":"2023-12-18T17:17:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-01-19T09:21:55.000Z","description":"There's a new variant of the COVID-19 virus spreading in the U.S. Here's what to know about the JN.1 variant of SARS-CoV-2.","url":"https://time.com/6548748/jn1-covid-variant/","keywords":["COVID-19","healthscienceclimate"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc210d4bd6e516940/698a435c457a5219f5d68435/JN.1-variant.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc210d4bd6e516940/698a435c457a5219f5d68435/JN.1-variant.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A traveler wearing a mask to protect against COVID-19","caption":"A traveler wearing a mask to protect against COVID-19","creditText":"Kevin Dietsch—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/covid-19/","name":"COVID-19"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6548748/jn1-covid-variant/","name":"What to Know About the JN.1 Variant of the COVID-19 Virus"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Nobel Prize in Medicine Goes to Scientists Behind mRNA COVID Vaccines","description":"Two scientists won the Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for discoveries that enabled the creation of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 that were critical in slowing the pandemic and whose technology could be used in the future to develop shots against other diseases like cancer and lupus.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/4wOCJg0m/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2023-10-02T17:29:34.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/4wOCJg0m.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/6548748/jn1-covid-variant/","duration":"PT1M28S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/6548748/jn1-covid-variant/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```