The 5th wave: Omicron BA.2.12.1 has become dominant among new U.S. COVID case

[speak easy]

Another Omicron subvariant known as BA.2.12.1 has become the dominant version among new U.S. coronavirus cases

The development comes as the United States recently began averaging more than 100,000 new confirmed cases per day again

Another form of the Omicron subvariant BA.2 has become the dominant version among new U.S. coronavirus cases, according to federal estimates on Tuesday, a development that experts had forecast over the last few weeks.

There was no indication yet that the new subvariant, known as BA.2.12.1, causes more severe disease than earlier forms did. BA.2.12.1 made up about 58 percent of all new U.S. cases, according to estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the week ending May 21.

For the first time since February, the United States recently began averaging more than 100,000 new confirmed cases per day again, according to a New York Times database. Newly reported cases have been rising in nearly every state, many infections go uncounted in official statistics, so the true number of infections may be higher. As of Monday, there were an average of more than 24,700 hospitalizations nationally, an increase of 28 percent over the last two weeks.

BA.2.12.1 spreads more rapidly than previous versions of Omicron including the form which sent U.S. cases soaring over the winter. The new version evolved from BA.2, which itself was more contagious than any variant that came before it. New York State health officials said mid-April that the Omicron subvariants known as BA.2.12 and BA.2.12.1 accounted for more than 90 percent of new cases in central New York State.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/05/24/world/covid-19-mandates-vaccine-cases#covid-omicron-cases--

With each new variant that takes over, SARS-CoV-2 comes closer to matching the infectivity of the measles. But unlike the measles, current vaccination provides virtually no protection against infection after 2 months. Any COVID infection, severe or otherwise, is bad news. The new nRNA vaccines, updated for Omicron, can't come soon enough.

NB. Keeping up to date on vaccination protects against severe disease. Everyone should get their shots, but keep taking precautions. Vice President Harris came down with COVID three weeks after her second booster.

[Alhena]

1. Better an Omicron variant than Delta

[Skittles]

2. all the fucking morons behaving as if Covid is over

that is exactly why it is spreading

[oregonjen]

4. They are gaslighting us, as well.

It’s over, move on they say. Uh huh. We’re still masking up and trying to be careful.

[Skittles]

5. it's pretty simple

the people who truly care, they never stopped masking and taking unnecessary risks - the selfish morons? not so much

[SunSeeker]

3. 30 kids in my son's high school reported testing positive today. That's in ONE day!

Yesterday it was 9. That's more that the worst of the winter Omicron surge.

This shit is exploding because nobody is wearing masks. It absolutely sucks that this is happening. The only saving grace is that 70% of us are vaccinated, so hospitalizations have not spiked like cases have.

[StevieM]

6. I think that is probably the variant that I contracted.

I wear a KN95 mask everywhere I go. I don't go out too much since COVID. And I regularly sanitize my hands. But I still got it.

This thing has gotten so contagious, and I suspect that I why I could no longer avoid it once the widespread wearing of masks came to an end.

[Music Man]

7. I caught COVID last week.

Managed to dodge it all this time. I'm exceptionally careful, so this must be a particularly contagious strain.

I teach at a high school, and I'm fairly confident I know which student I caught it from. I was ONE WEEK away from the end of the school year.

[Retrograde]

8. The current strains are extremely contagious

According to my doctor, masking helps but is not a guarantee that you won't catch it - especially since most people have ceased wearing masks in many situations. If you're vaxxed and boosted, it will probably be mild - at least the version I got 3 weeks ago was.