Page 12 - aruba-today-20220412

A12 SCIENCE
Tuesday 12 april 2022

EXPLAINER: BA.2 variant takes over.

What's known about it?

nant, and some scientists
are concerned that the
variant could also push up
cases across the U.S.
Besides being more con-
tagious, it's spreading at a
time when governments
are relaxing restrictions
designed to control COV-
ID-19. Also, people are tak-
ing off their masks and get-
ting back to activities such
as traveling, eating indoors
at restaurants and attend-
ing crowded events.
At this point, overall coro-
Pharmacist Karen Flynn gives a second Moderna booster shot to
her mother Joann Pangonis, of New Boston, Pa., at Morris Drug in navirus cases in the U.S.
Mahanoy City, Pa., on Friday, April 1, 2022. are still on the decline. But
Associated Press there have been upticks
in some places, including
By LAURA UNGAR scientists are learning more New York, Arizona and Il-
In the latest battle of the about it. But they still don't linois. Health officials have
coronavirus mutants, an know exactly how it will af- also noted that case counts
extra-contagious version of fect the trajectory of the are getting more unreliable
omicron has taken over the pandemic. because of the wide avail-
world. WHAT'S KNOWN ability of home tests and
The coronavirus version BA.2 has lots of mutations. the fact some people are
known as BA.2 is now domi- It's been dubbed "stealth no longer getting tested.
nant in at least 68 countries, omicron" because it lacks "We're entering a phase
including the United States. a genetic quirk of the origi- where increasing cases or
The World Health Organiza- nal omicron that allowed waves may be very region-
tion says it makes up about health officials to rapidly al and it may depend a lot
94% of sequenced omicron differentiate it from the del- on vaccination levels in the
cases submitted to an in- ta variant using a certain community — and not just
ternational coronavirus da- PCR test. vaccination levels but tim-
tabase in the most recent One reason BA.2 has ing of the vaccinations,"
week. And the Centers for gained ground, scientists Long said. "How long ago
Disease Control and Pre- say, is that it's about 30% were they? Did people
vention says it was respon- more contagious than the get boosters? Because we
sible for 72% of new U.S. in- original omicron. In rare know the immunity to the
fections last week. cases, research shows it vaccine wanes a little bit
Dr. Wesley Long, a patholo- can sicken people even over time."
gist at Houston Methodist in if they've already had an Long said he feels "very
Texas, said he's seen BA.2 omicron infection — al- certain" that cases will
quickly become dominant though it doesn't seem to eventually go back up in
in his medical system. At cause more severe dis- the U.S., whether that's be-
the end of last week, the ease. cause of BA.2 or some fu-
variant was responsible for Vaccines appear equal- ture variant.q
more than three-quarters ly effective against both
of cases in Houston Meth- types of omicron. For both, Blue residences
odist hospitals. Less than vaccination plus a booster Eagle Beach
two weeks earlier, 1% to 3% offers strong protection 2 Br, 2 bath
of cases were caused by against severe illness and Ocean view
BA.2. death. price :$585K
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because it is more con- UP CASES? johnnypaesch@gmail.com
tagious" than the original Coronavirus cases rose in ________________________________215245
omicron, Long said. parts of Europe and Asia
As the variant advances, when BA.2 became domi- Casa del Mar 2BR/2B
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