BALTIMORE — The world couldn’t be more ready to move on from the deadly pandemic. But as predicted, the hardy coronavirus continues to mutate and infect people anew. Cases are again rising in Asia and Europe, which has been a harbinger of things to come here.
The upswing is tied to a new, even more contagious version of the omicron variant that spread like wildfire across the United States in December and January. That was BA.1 and the new subvariant is known as BA.2, and its numbers are rising in Maryland and the nation, according to surveillance that includes genetic sequencing.
BA.2 is not yet dominant, according to the Maryland Department of Health, which has been testing about 10% of all positive cases in the state in conjunction with the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University. Since the first few cases were found in early February, there have been a total of 110 BA.2 cases reported, said health officials who plan to continue the testing.
