Latest in BA.2

Two months is all it took. In mid-March, Omicron BA.2.12.1 and sister subvariant BA.2.12.2 made up only 1.5% of newly-sequenced positive tests in the U.S. Today, they comprise 57.9% of all new positive Covid test samples sequenced to determine the variant involved. And that roughly 58% is likely just about all…

Just as most Americans have caught wind of the BA.2 variant of Omicron — which overtook the original Omicron as the dominant strain in the U.S. less than a month ago — another possibly faster-growing version of Omicron is quickly making inroads. The new Omicron sublineage BA.2.12.1 now accounts for 19% of all new…

Los Angeles County reported 1,355 new Covid cases on Friday, continuing an upward trend that began about a week ago as the more-infectious BA.2 subvariant continues to spread. Last week, the 7-day average daily number of new cases in the county was 878. By yesterday, the county was averaging more than 1,000 new…

One week after Los Angeles threw off the last of its Covid restrictions, L.A. Officials are concerned about the spread of the more contagious BA.2 variant, a rise in cases and looming school and religious holidays. “While outbreaks in many sectors remain low,” the County Public Health Department said on Friday that…

Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer confirmed today what Deadline inferred last week: that the more-infectious BA.2 variant of Covid-19 is “now the predominant variant” in the county. The spread of the infectious variant is being blamed for increases in case numbers locally. Ferrer…

After two-plus years of the Covid pandemic and drought, the largest fires in recorded history and a recall election in California, Governor Gavin Newsom left yesterday for two-weeks to Central and South America with his family. Bad timing. Numbers released by the state to the media today indicate that Covid test…

The rapid growth of the more transmissible BA.2 variant of Covid-19 is continuing in Los Angeles County. As of March 12, the latest date for which data is available, 32% of local positive Covid tests that underwent laboratory sequencing turned out to be the result of BA.2. During the week ending March 5, 16.7% of…

The more transmissible strain of Omicron, BA.2, is now the dominant Covid variant in the United States. In just the last week, it has risen from 35% of all new cases genetically sequenced to 55%, per CDC data. That’s a remarkable 80% jump in just seven days. In the swath of the Northeast that includes Pennsylvania…

Los Angeles County Public Health officials announced today that the county of 10 million people had finally begun to experience a trend that has already hit many parts of the United States: a rapid rise in the number of Covid cases attributed to the more transmissible Omicron BA.2 variant. Per L.A. County: Although…

UPDATED with latest: One week after the World Health Organization reported that the BA.2 Omicron variant had become the dominant strain globally, accounting for 75% of new cases sequenced, the U.N. body is reporting that dominance has risen to 85.96%. The original Omicron variant, dubbed BA.1, has shrunken to just…

Numbers updated this morning by the CDC indicate that the percentage of new Covid cases across the United States tied to the even more transmissible BA.2 variant has jumped from 23% in early March to 35% this week. On the positive side, that means the rate of increase has slowed from two 100% jumps over the previous…

In recent weeks, there have been frequent reports about the rise of the more transmissible Omicron subvariant BA.2 around the world. BA.2 now makes up nearly all the new cases in Denmark, the U.K., Switzerland, Sweden, India, Belgium, Norway, South Africa, The Philippines, Hong Kong and many more regions. Throughout…