WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is warning Americans to take the latest COVID-19 variant, BA.5, more seriously, but its stated strategy, released Tuesday, is to keep doing more of the same — encouraging masking, testing and getting vaccinated against COVID-19 when applicable.
The BA.5 variant now makes up more than half of all cases in the United States, and the BA.4 variant makes up roughly 20%. The two new omicron subvariants are much more transmissible than earlier omicron subvariants, and, unlike prior variants, can evade natural immunity.
Scientists do not yet know about the clinical severity of BA.4 and BA.5 compared to omicron strains, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said during a briefing Tuesday. But they do know it’s much more transmissible. Even those previously infected by other omicron subvariants do not have much protection against these new variants.
