A new wave of COVID-19 is emerging in the United States, driven dominantly by two strong omicron strains.
First seen in South Africa, later in Portland, the BA.5 subvariant has been designated the “worst version” of omicron by experts because it evades antibodies and is easily transmitted, according to NBC New York.
This week, the BA.5 strain alone accounted for 36 percent of U.S. cases, while BA.4, another fast-growing omicron subvariant, accounted for 15.7 percent of infections, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s data tracker .
What are the main omicron symptoms to look out for?
As I previously reported, omicron variants have a shorter incubation period, so symptoms may appear earlier.
The most common symptoms associated with omicron are:
- cough
- Fatigue.
- Traffic jams.
- A runny nose.
The CDC has listed common symptoms of COVID-19. The symptoms are:
- Fever or chills.
- cough
- Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing.
- Fatigue.
- Muscle or body aches.
- Headache.
- New loss of taste or smell.
- Sore throat.
- Congestion or runny nose.
- Nausea or vomiting.
- diarrhea
Is re-infection easier with the new omicron variants?
Before the arrival of omicron, a previous infection reduced the risk of re-infection by 84%.
A preliminary study published in the journal Science in March showed that the risk of re-infection is now “significantly increased” with the new omicron variants, according to NPR.
These newer variants also have the ability to evade immunity from vaccines or previous infections, or both, according to the Deseret News.
Expert and physician-scientist Eric Topol, professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research and founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, considers BA.5 the “worst version of the virus,” according to Fortune.
“It takes immune evasion, which is already extensive, to the next level and, as a function of that, improved transmissibility, far beyond omicron (BA.1) and other variants of the omicron family that we have seen (including BA.1.1, BA .2 , BA.2.12.1 and BA.4),” he wrote earlier this week.
What are the other omicron variants to look out for?
Besides BA.5 and BA.4, which together are the dominant variants in the US, BA.2.12.1 is still prevalent, accounting for 42% of cases.
Currently, BA.2 is the cause of only 5.7% of infections, while BA.1.1 and BA.1.1.529 are no longer circulating in the US, according to CDC tracking.
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