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The BA.2 variant of Omicron, the highly contagious Covid-19 strain causing surges of cases in Europe, has reached 55% of cases in the U.S. as of March 26, according to the latest estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That is up from 14.3% of cases in the week ending March 5.
Some regions of the U.S. are showing even higher percentages. BA.2 is estimated to be more than 71% of Covid cases in the region that includes New York and New Jersey, and more than 73% of cases in Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont.
On the West Coast, BA.2 is 59% of cases in the region that includes Washington, Oregon and Idaho, and 60% in the region that includes California, Nevada and Arizona.
BA.2 is also the dominant strain in the U.K., where hospitalizations are increasing, and is causing surges in parts of Asia, including Hong Kong and Shanghai, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday authorized second booster doses of Pfizer-BioNtech’s or Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine for adults aged 50 and over, certain highly immunocompromised people aged 12 and up, and others at higher risk. Those who want them are eligible to receive second boosters at least four months after their first booster shots, no matter what vaccine they previously received.
Daily U.S. Covid cases are at their lowest levels since last summer, down 2.4% over the past two weeks to 30,662, and are still declining from their January peaks, according to Johns Hopkins University data. But infections have increased in some places, including 78% over the past two weeks in New York, and 77% in Connecticut.
The seven-day average of cases in Central New York has climbed to about 46.5 per 100,000 people, compared with 14.7 statewide, according to New York’s state health department.
The lifting of Covid restrictions and mask-wearing mandates is likely contributing to the increase, public health officials said. Health officials are also seeing higher virus levels in wastewater treatment samples.
“Predictions are hard, but I am expecting that the U.S. will have a surge in at least some locations,” Aubree Gordon, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, told the Journal.
Read More: CDC Says BA.2 Is the Dominant Covid-19 Strain in the U.S.