MADISON, WI (WTAQ) — A subvariant of COVID-19’s Omicron variant has been detected in Wisconsin.
DHS Bureau of Infectious Diseases Chief Medical Officer Dr. Ryan Westergaard says that with less than five cases reported so far, they’re not raising the alarm about the Omicron BA.2 variant.
“It is still considered part of the variant we call Omicron, but it has a few additional mutations,” Westergaard told reporters Thursday.
The variant is said to be more transmissible than Omicron, but given widespread immunity from both vaccination and prior infection, experts aren’t sure how much of an impact it will have.
“Our expectation and our hope is that it will be more of the same,” said Westergaard. “Which is a decline, day by day and week by week, from this extraordinarily high peak.”
A Danish study reports the subvariant is no more severe than the dominant Omicron strain, and roughly 1.5 times more transmissible.
The state Department of Health Services reported 3,484 new confirmed cases on Thursday. The seven-day average fell to 4,147, down 73% from its peak of 18,849 on Jan. 19. There were 24 newly confirmed deaths reported Thursday.
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