Two new versions of the BA.2 Omicron variant coronavirus are leading to new cases in New York, officials said, helping the region become a national Covid hotspot again. So far, variants BA.2.12 and BA.12.1 are possibly the fastest spreading forms of the virus, although they don’t appear to cause more severe cases of coronavirus.
State health officials announced the two variants on Wednesday, arguing “these highly contagious new variants are likely contributing to the rising cases.”
The variant pair accounted for more than 70 percent of new cases in central New York state in March, a number that is now over 90 percent. The same strains of Covid have been identified in 30 other US states and 40 other countries.
“While these subvariants are new, the tools used to control them are not,” said State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett in a statement Wednesday. “These tools work if we all use them: get fully vaccinated and refreshed, test for exposure, symptoms or travel, consider wearing a mask in indoor public places, and consult your doctor about treatment if you test positive.”
Both variants evolved from the BA.2 Omicron variant, a descendant of the BA.1 version of Omicron, which started the massive spike in cases during the winter.
The new variants have a roughly 25 percent “growth lead” over BA.2, the most contagious form of Covid up to that point. This means these new forms could be more likely to reproduce and become the dominant form of the coronavirus than other strains.
“It’s just a reminder that we’re not out of the woods on this virus and people should continue to take precautions and get fully vaccinated if they haven’t completed their course,” says Kirsten St. George, virologist for the state said the New York Times on Wednesday.
Though perhaps not as severe, the new variants bring cases in New York back to levels seen during the 2021 delta wave.
Craig Spencer, director of global health in emergency medicine at Columbia Medicine in New York, said this week it appears the state’s cases are spreading largely among younger people who need fewer hospitalizations and that the state’s hospital system currently has adequate capacities available. compared to the “tsunami” of falls in the winter.
“I continue to hope that this increase in cases will not result in a large increase in patients requiring hospitalization,” he wrote on Twitter Monday. “Hospitalization is not the only thing that matters. But it is very important.”
However, he noted that with the rise of rapid at-home Covid tests, government data is likely to be understated as these tests are not recorded in government systems.
The soaring number of variants comes a month after the state of New York and New York City both lifted important parts of their mandates on inner masks and vaccination records.