New BA.2 COVID-19 Subvariant: Symptoms ‘Not More Severe’ Than BA.1

A new subvariant of SARS-CoV-2, this one dubbed BA.2, has taken over from all the other strains in the U.S., according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

According to a recent article in the Scientific American, BA.2, currently “accounts for nearly 55 percent of all new SARS-CoV-2 infections in the U.S., according to latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

The good news, according to the outlet, is that the “disease symptoms caused by BA.2 are not more severe than those caused by BA.1 in vaccinated people or people who were previously infected with SARS-CoV-2.” This data came from Ram Sasisekharan, a MIT biological engineer who spoke with the outlet.

The more contagious subvariant is raging across the U.S., but Dr. Anthony Fauci, an immunologist and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who served on former President Trump’s White House Coronavirus Task Force and is now President Biden’s chief medical adviser on COVID-19, doesn’t expect a huge surge in cases.