The Los Angeles Post

BA.5 NOW MAKES UP NEARLY 80 PERCENT OF NEW COVID CASES: CDC

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The more infectious BA.5 omicron subvariant now makes up almost 80 percent of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S., as case rates continue to trend upward.

  • About 78 percent of coronavirus cases in the U.S. are caused by the BA.5 subvariant, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
  • The rise of BA.5 has spurred concerns over its enhanced ability to evade protection given by vaccines and prior infections from other variants.

Currently available vaccines are still believed to be effective in reducing the risk of hospitalizations and deaths from BA.5, but the shot’s ability to prevent infection is thought to be less potent against this subvariant.

 

As BA.5 has grown in prevalence, the rate of COVID-19 infections has steadily begun to rise again. The case rate had stagnated for several weeks, with the seven-day moving average for daily cases hovering around 100,000 for much of June.

 

This metric began to trend up beginning in July and now stands at about 126,000.