Top U.S. health experts are predicting an uptick in the number of Covid cases due to an emerging, highly contagious COVID variant, called BA.2, according to CNBC.
The nation’s top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said BA.2 is about 50% to 60% more transmissible than Omicron, but it does not appear to be more severe.
Health authorities have been urging people to get the coronavirus vaccines and boosters, which are currently the best ways to prevent serious illness from the coronavirus.
Dr. Fauci, White House Chief Medical Advisor, said Sunday on ABC’s This Week, “It does have increased transmission capability. However, when you look at the cases, they do not appear to be any more severe and they do not appear to evade immune responses either from vaccines or prior infections.”
BA.2 has already increased the number of cases in China and some parts of Europe. In the U.S., it is estimated to account for about 25% or 30% of new cases, but it could become the nation’s most dominant variant, according to Dr. Fauci.
He said he expects “an uptick in cases” due to the new variant, but not necessarily a massive surge like other variants, Delta and Omicron, have caused.
U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy and Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a former FDA commissioner, also expressed similar views regarding BA.2.
Dr. Murthy said the new variant could cause a spike in cases but that the nation is in a better position now than it was in the previous two years when the virus “defined our lives.”
He told Fox News Sunday, “We should be prepared, Covid hasn’t gone away. Our focus should be on preparation, not on panic.”
Dr. Gottlieb said he also expects “some uptick” due to BA.2 but “not a big wave of infection.”
He told CBS’s Face the Nation, “I think we’re going to continue to see low levels of infection through the summer. But before we get there, we’re probably going to see some tick-up of infection like the Europeans are seeing right now, maybe not as pronounced.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported over 31,200 new COVID cases Saturday, including 958 deaths. The numbers have been significantly down from the beginning of 2022.
