New COVID variant BA.2 more contagious – Rapidly spreading throughout US

-Courtesy Photo

By Tami Stevenson

The spread of a new variant of the Omicron strain, BA.2 was detected in Denmark in December. It has now spread throughout the UK and is rapidly spreading in the US. Early last week, US health officials reported only three cases. By the end of the week, officials said that half of the states in the US reported BA.2 cases.

Scientists announced they believe that BA.2 is one-and-a-half times more contagious than the original omicron strain, known as BA.1. However, they are saying there is no evidence the symptoms are more severe and do not expect hospitalizations to be higher than with the BA.1 strain.

Denmark’s population is around 5.8 million people. In one day last week they reported more than 50,000 new infections. Denmark also reported that BA.2 now makes up more than 40 percent of their COVID cases. At the same time the number of BA.1 cases are going down.

Scientists have called the BA.2 strain a “stealth” variant. It may be more difficult to detect than the BA.1 strain because of its makeup.

According to a statement from the Danish health agency, Statens Serum Institut, “BA.1 and BA.2 have many differences in their mutations in the most important areas. In fact, the difference between BA.1 and BA.2 is greater than the difference between the original variant and the Alpha variant.”

Some health officials said it’s not clear if current vaccines are effective against it, it’s too soon to tell. Others are more optimistic.