By now, you may have seen headlines linking an alarming new COVID symptom dubbed “razor blade throat” to NB.1.8.1, the variant currently surging in the United States.

The term originated in China, where the strain was first detected, according to the Los Angeles Times. On social media, patients have also described experiencing a scratchy, severe sore throat they attribute to NB.1.8.1, which was first discovered in the U.S. in March. Since then, NB.1.8.1 has become the nation’s dominant strain, accounting for an estimated 43% of cases in June, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Now that NB.1.8.1 is circulating more than any other variant, just how worried should you be about catching it and developing an unusually intense sore throat? Here’s what experts had to say about the much-talked-about symptom.

Experts say it’s certainly possible for COVID patients to experience a very painful sore throat, but there’s no evidence to suggest that’s unique to NB.1.8.1. “There may be some slight variation to the symptoms, but not enough to be able to hang your hat on and say this is really distinctive, like the loss of smell was early on in COVID,” Geeta Sood, MD, ScM, an assistant professor of medicine and hospital epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, told Health. “I’m not really hearing a lot about, ‘Oh my God, my throat has been killing me,’” she added.

Sood did point out that the low COVID vaccination rates this season may make patients more susceptible to severe illness. But this variant is likely not an outlier. “We don’t have any reason to believe that this variant would have different symptoms than any other,” Shira Doron, MD, chief infection control officer for Tufts Medicine and hospital epidemiologist at Tufts Medical Center, told Health. “And we do have data that suggests it’s not more deadly. It’s not more likely to put people in the hospital than other variants.”

Anytime a new variant rises to prominence, it will inherently carry a greater infection risk than other strains. “This variant is becoming successful because it is able to evade immunity,” Sood explained. But while NB.1.8.1. may be becoming the dominant strain, COVID is not spreading at an exceptional rate.

The level of COVID in wastewater is low across the country, and the COVID hospitalization rate has fallen to its lowest level since the start of the pandemic, per CDC data. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. COVID-NET laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 hospitalizations. “That’s immunity,” Doron said. “That’s the natural history of a pandemic virus becoming endemic.”