COVID-19 Cases in the US: Highly Transmissible BA.4, BA.5 Variants Found in California, More States

The new COVID-19 variants, which are known to be highly transmissible and immune-evading, have already entered the United States. Experts have confirmed the presence of the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron sub-variants among the new COVID-19 cases in the U.S.

Andy Pekosz, a virologist from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told Fortune last week that the BA.4 has been identified in samples from the U.S. States. Pekosz added that the variant is "clearly circulating" in the U.S., but the virologist noted that the spread of the various remains not clear.

Multiple COVID-19 researchers with access to GISAID also noted that the earliest sample of BA.4 in the United States was collected on March 30, while the earliest sample of BA.5 in the country was collected on March 29, Yahoo! Finance reported, citing a separate report from Fortune.

GISAID is an international research database that tracks changes in COVID and the flu virus.

COVID-19 California, Other States Now Include New Omicron Subvariant

On Monday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provided a list of states that have recorded cases of the COVID-19 BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariant.

The locations were reportedly widespread, stretching from West Coast to East Coast states.

The CDC reported at least 13 cases of BA.4 variant from at least nine states. California, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Pennsylvania recorded two cases, while the District of Columbia, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, and Texas have one case each.

Meanwhile, there are at least seven cases of BA.5 variant from six states: one each from California, Illinois, Oklahoma, Michigan, and Missouri. Meanwhile, North Carolina has two cases.

A CDC spokesperson explained that the probable positives represented less than 0.1 percent of circulating virus samples collected the week ending April 16.

"The dispersion tells us they're already present across the U.S. and we just haven't detected it yet in any states that haven't been named," Dr. Phoebe Lostroh, a Harvard-trained microbiology professor at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado, said.

Alex Sigal, a professor from the Africa Health Research Institute in South Africa, told Fortune on Sunday that it is still unsure if the new subvariants will take hold in the United States as they have in South Africa.

COVID-19 Variants BA.4 and BA.5

The BA.4 variant was first identified on January 10 in cases sequenced in South Africa, Deadline reported, citing Outbreak.info.

Meanwhile, BA.5 was first detected also in South Africa on February 26.

According to reports, the new COVID-19 variants appear to be more infectious than BA.2 or Stealth Omicron. It can be recalled that BA.2 variant is more contagious than the original Omicron variant.

South African COVID Expert Tulio de Oliveira told Bloomberg on Thursday that the new sub-variants of Omicron have mutations in the lineages that allow the virus to evade immunity.

"We expect that it can cause reinfections and it can break through some vaccines, because that's the only way something can grow in South Africa, where we estimate that more than 90% of the population has a level of immune protection," Oliveira noted.

Sigal mentioned that the COVID-19 new variants have the same symptoms as the regular Omicron, including fever, loss of smell, and malaise. The Africa Health Research Institute Professor also added that he has not seen symptoms of respiratory distress, which is a COVID-specific symptom that makes the disease dangerous.

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Written By: Joshua Summers

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