The BA.5 summer surge of COVID-19 may already be nearing its end as both case and death numbers begin to decline after spikes in the first weeks of July.
America is now averaging 426 Covid deaths a day, down 20 percent over the past week, quickly reversing a trend from earlier this month, which saw mortality from the virus double from July 6-13.
The number of cases is also gradually declining, falling eight percent over the past week to 128,785 per day. These numbers can be significantly undercounted due to the high prevalence of home testing, asymptomatic, and mild cases that are often not captured in official numbers.
The fall in cases comes as some officials prepare to bring back Covid measures to deal with the BA.5 variant – with Los Angeles returning its indoor mask mandate next week and schools in San Diego requiring masks indoors during summer programming.
It is feared that the BA.5 variant is the most transmissible version of the virus that public health officials have caught on in the US so far.
It’s also immune-preventable and can bypass the protection a person may have from previous Covid infection. Experts believe a person could be reinfected with BA.5 within weeks of recovering from a different version of the Omicron variant.
This is a potentially worrying prospect that is changing how many understand the pandemic.
BA.5 has rapidly spread across America and now accounts for nearly four out of every five cases in the United States
Although this has led to a surge in cases in recent weeks, experts are not yet panicking and believe the rollout of more Covid vaccinations may be needed to stop the spread.
“The good news here is our tools, our vaccines, if you’re up to date, if you’ve been vaccinated recently… if you’re getting treatments, they’re continuing to work very well,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator, told ABC’s This Week on Sunday.
“This is an area of concern, but we know how to deal with it.”
The BA.5 variant (dark green) now accounts for 78% of Covid cases in the US and is rapidly outperforming other forms of the virus. The previously dominant strain BA 2.12.1 (red) now accounts for less than 10% of active cases, according to the CDC
The BA.5 variant (dark green) accounts for between 70% and 80% of sequenced COVID-19 infections in every single region of the Americas
He noted that people over 50 – who are most affected by the virus – should get their fourth dose of vaccine if they haven’t already.
The shots, which are the second booster shot following the original two-dose regimen of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, were made available earlier this year to bolster protection for those most at risk.
“If you’re 50 or older and haven’t had an injection this year in 2022, it’s absolutely critical that you get one now that offers a high level of protection,” Jha said.
America, too, has added a new shot to its arsenal. On Tuesday, CDC officials signed the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the Novavax vaccine for all Americans ages 18 and older.
The long-awaited shots are the first protein-based COVID-19 vaccines to hit the US market, though they may already be outdated.
These vaccines were formulated to combat the original Wuhan strain of the virus that swept the world in early 2020.
In the period since the virus mutated to bypass much of the protection against infection offered by vaccines tailored to this strain.
While there is hope that the Novavax vaccine will still be effective against the newer Omicron strains, the FDA has already made it clear that it wants reformulated Covid shots tailored for newer strains to be ready this fall will.
Some also doubt that these recordings will ever be needed. While newer strains of the virus may evade immunity from infection, it is believed that vaccinated individuals still have strong protection against serious hospitalizations or death.
“He said it’s absolutely vital to get a refresher when you’re over 50. But this additional protection is a weak increase in immunity against the current strain since the booster vaccine is administered against the original Wuhan strain,” said Dr. Marty Makary, an audience health expert at Johns Hopkins University, wrote to .
“Importantly, once again, Dr. Jha supports the big pharma narrative by denying the fact that natural immunity provides powerful protection against serious disease.”
“Dr. Jha fails to remind people that for the vast majority of Americans, Omicron poses no significant public health risk other than cold symptoms,” he added.
As BA.5 has grown, it has marginalized other variants. The variant BA 2.12.1, which was dominant just a few weeks ago, accounts for only nine percent of US cases. The BA.2 ‘Stealth’ variant has almost completely disappeared up to this point.
BA.4, which was discovered in South Africa around the same time as BA.5, accounts for 13 percent of cases in the US, the CDC reports.
The new dominant variant has spread fairly evenly across the country, accounting for between 70 and 80 percent of the sequenced cases in every single region of America.
Fears of the BA.5 variant prompted some officials to bizarrely reintroduce mask orders in recent weeks.
In San Diego, school officials released a letter last week announcing that masks are now required for the remainder of the summer program.
“If your student is attending a summer school or other summer enrichment program, please send them to school or their program wearing a mask,” officials wrote.
“If they don’t have one, masks will be provided. Students and staff are only required to wear their masks indoors.
The news has worried many parents that their children may have to wear masks in schools again when the academic year starts again in August this year.
“The news that mask mandates are returning in LA and San Diego is extremely disturbing. As the world moves away from the COVID panic, California is moving backwards. Keeping children who are least at risk and least likely to transmit the virus masked is cruel and unscientific,” Kira Davis, a California mom who is running for school board in nearby Orange County, told .
“This is just an attempt to keep schools on emergency and keep those pandemic dollars flowing. Parents and those who care for our students must urge their local school to immediately pass resolutions opposing the return of these ridiculous mandates. It is now clear that in CA none of this ends until we demand it.
“Parents in my county, which is sandwiched between LA and San Diego, are angry. Many have told me that if our schools return to a mandate, they will not return their children in the fall.
Makary notes that many of the masks people have at home are likely to be useless against the virus. Growing research shows that both cloth and surgical masks lack the necessary fit or filtration to properly prevent the spread of Covid.