Infectious disease experts continue to worry about the more contagious version of the omicron variant, BA.2.
What’s happening: The BA.2 subvariant of the omicron variant continues to spread throughout the United States.
- The spread of BA.2 has been slow and steady.
- Omicron variant COVID-19 cases continue to drop.
- “The fear is that spread may be on track to rapidly accelerate in the near future,” according to NPR.
What they’re saying: “A lot of us were assuming that it was going to quickly take off in the United States just like it was doing in Europe and become the new dominant variant,” Nathan Grubaugh, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, told NPR.
Potential danger: New lab experiments in Japan found that BA.2 variant has a number of features that can lead to severe COVID-19 symptoms, as I reported for the Deseret News.
- The research — published ahead of peer review on the bioRxiv server — found that BA.2 can resist COVID-19 vaccines and it can resist some treatments, such as the monoclonal antibody sotrovimab.
The bigger picture: As COVID-19 cases dwindle, people across the United States are wondering what will come next in the pandemic. There are hints of normality around the corner. But experts are still worried more variants could spread throughout the population.