Covid Omicron Variant BA.2.12.1 Spreading Quickly Across United States; Related Cases Up Nearly 100% In Past Two Weeks
deadline.comIn February, the first few cases of two new, more infectious variants were identified in the Northeastern United States. Dubbed BA.2.12.1 and BA.2.12.2, these sublineages of the BA.2 variant made up only 1.5% of newly-sequenced positive tests before March 19.
But, warned New York State Public Health officials, the new variants are thought to have a 23%–27% growth advantage over BA.2, which itself had an estimated 30% growth advantage over the original Omicron.
About 6 weeks later, the numbers support that theory.For the week ending April 16, BA.2.12.1, which seems to be the more dominant of the two, made up 19% of all newly-sequenced positive Covid tests in the country.
Centers For Disease Control data released today show that BA.2.12.1, now makes up 36.5% of all newly-sequenced positive Covid tests.
Read more on deadline.com
