(Portland, OR) -- The new COVID-19 variant, XBB.1.5, spreads fast, but Oregon State Health Officer Dr. Dean Sidelinger says, currently, only around five-percent of the cases here are from the variant. Models show it will increase the number of people hospitalized with the virus. Sidelinger says it's not expected to be a major problem, and the new variant doesn't make people more sick than the other versions of COVID-19. The bivalent booster vaccine does provide some protection against the new variant.