"Understanding the Arcturus COVID Variant: Symptoms and Threats"

The "Arcturus" COVID variant, also known as XBB.1.16, has been climbing in prevalence around the US and globally, but health officials say it does not seem to be causing new or worse symptoms compared to other variants. Some have pointed to "pink eye" as a potential new symptom caused by the variant, but health authorities have downplayed this, saying it is a known symptom of COVID-19. Preliminary analyses suggest that vaccines may still be effective against the variant, and federal officials think a single vaccine recipe might be able to boost against all of them this fall.