Becker's Healthcare July 7, 2022
The highly transmissible omicron subvariant BA.5 will likely spur another wave of COVID-19 infections in the U.S., Eric Topol, MD, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in San Diego, told The New York Times.
BA.5 quickly rose to dominance last month, jumping from just 7.6 percent of all U.S. cases in early June to 54 percent of cases in the week ending July 2, CDC estimates show. BA.5 and another related variant, BA.4, are highly skilled at evading immunity from vaccines and past infections.
“I think there’s an underappreciation of what it’s going to do to the country, and it already is exerting its effect,” Dr. Topol told the Times.
In countries where BA.4 and BA.5...