Oh no, guyz...there are 3 new Covid variants!!!!

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Health authorities say they're closely tracking the spread of three new COVID-19 variants now spreading around the country.

Levels of COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths for now remain far below previous peaks seen during past summer and winter waves of the virus, but have been climbing steadily for several weeks.

Public health officials have said that they're well-equipped for the latest seasonal uptick in the virus, with COVID-19 tests and forthcoming vaccines expected to work for the variants on the rise around the country.

But the appearance of a new "highly mutated" variant has raised questions among virus trackers about what the coming months could hold.

Here's the latest about what we know about the new COVID-19 variants now on the rise.

What are current new COVID variants?

There are two that are fairly prevalent and one — the highly mutated variant — that is not as widespread, for now. Every two weeks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention publishes projections of COVID-19 variants that are dominant around the country.

The EG.5 variant is estimated to be the "dominant" strain in the U.S. because it makes up the largest share of new cases of COVID-19 compared to other variants. On Aug. 18, the CDC estimated EG.5 made up 20.6% of new infections.

Behind EG.5 – unofficially nicknamed "Eris" by virus tracker T. Ryan Gregory on social media – is a long list of other closely related variants, virtually all of which descended from the XBB strains that were dominant last winter.

FL.1.5.1 is the next-largest strain at 13.3% of U.S. infections, the CDC estimated. Dubbed "Fornax" by Gregory, FL.1.5.1 has nearly doubled from the week prior when it was an estimated 7.1% of circulating variants.

Both EG.5 and FL.1.5.1 are XBB variant descendants that share a mutation known as F456L, which appears to be helping them spread more than other virus siblings.

Authorities have also been tracking a new highly mutated strain of the virus called BA.2.86. That strain was nicknamed "Pirola" by user @JPWeiland on social media. BA.2.86's prevalence remains too small to show up on the CDC estimates and is currently being aggregated with its distant ancestor BA.2.

While only a small handful of cases have been spotted around the world, including one in Michigan, the strain's large number of mutations at some key parts of the virus has accelerated investigations into the risk that BA.2.86 might pose.

Are symptoms for new COVID variants different?

COVID symptoms appear to be largely the same. Since EG.5 and FL.1.5.1 emerged, officials have generally downplayed claims of dramatic changes in symptoms caused by these closely related new variants, compared to their close Omicron variant relatives from earlier in the pandemic.

There has been no evidence of increased disease severity from the new EG.5 strain, the WHO reported on August 9.

Experts say other changes in the population, like immunity from prior infections and vaccination, also muddies attempts to compare whether new variants are to blame for shifts in reported symptoms from the virus.

In recent months, COVID-19 symptoms appear to have remained largely the same as they have for the past year, with cold and flu-like signs – cough, headache, muscle aches, runny nose and fatigue – reported most often.

As for BA.2.86, officials say it is too early to say whether that strain will cause more severe illness because of its worrying sum of mutations.

The sole case in Michigan was "an older adult with mild symptoms, and [the patient] has not been hospitalized," Chelsea Wuth, a spokesperson for the state Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement to CBS News.

In Denmark, health officials said their three BA.2.86 variant cases did not have "symptoms other than those normally seen" from COVID-19.

The U.K. said its BA.2.86 case was tested at a London hospital, but that it was currently not possible "to assess comparative severity by variant" based on their data.

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