For the two-week period starting on May 26 and ending on June 8, the government agency data shows that KP.3 accounts for 25% of COVID cases in the U.S. and is now the dominant variant. This knocks down previous frontrunner, the JN.1 variant, which spread globally last winter, and now makes up 22.5% of cases.
The CDC uses Nowcast data tracker to project the COVID variants over a two-week period. The tool is used to help estimate current prevalence of variants, but does not predict future spread of the virus, the CDC said.
Like JN.1 and "FLiRT" variants KP.1.1 and KP.2, KP.3 is a similar strand.
USA TODAY reached out to the CDC for more information on the variant but have not heard back.