The more virulent BA.2.12.1 Omicron subvariant turned officially prevalent in the United States, yet it is already being pushed out nationally by the so-"newcomers" BA.4 and BA.5, both of which have occurred in Florida.
As specified in a Sun Sentinel report, overlapping waves of the Omicron variant are sweeping through the state, resulting in more people getting infected with COVID-19.
While BA.12.1 has achieved an advantage by being more infectious than the Omicron subvariant BA.2 before it, the newcomers are particularly good at evading antibodies and infecting those vaccinated or previously infected.
Some epidemiologists have described what's taking place as "the battle of Omicron." Private lab Helix, which identifies COVID-19 strains that circulate in states, discovered that B4.4 and B4.5 encroached into Florida last month and represent approximately five percent of samples. The majority of cases in Florida, approximately 58 percent, are still BA.2.12.1.
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A free monoclonal treatment site in a tent is open for patients at the Miami Dade College North Campus on January 20, 2022, in Miami, Florida. The state of Florida opened the new monoclonal antibody therapy sites in South Florida to combat COVID-19 and keep people from getting so sick they would need to visit the hospital.
New BA.4 and BA.5 Variants
Essentially, the Omicron subvariant BS.4 was initially identified in January this year in cases sequenced in South Africa, and BA.5 surfaced a month after.
In addition, the Omicron variant BA.2.12.1 accounted for almost all of the daily cases in South Africa at the end of February this year. By the end of April, also in 2022, BA.4 and BA.5 were detected in 90 percent of all positive test specimens examined in that nation, demonstrating the infectiousness of the newcomers.
According to health officials, the evidence appears to point to increasingly fast, overlapping waves of new variants, which likely means more infections are expected in the summer months ahead in Florida.
Describing the recent finding, Pediatric Associations in Fort Lauderdale's Dr.Mona Amin said her theory is they may see more strains, and these variants may be more contagious, although "they will continue to get less problematic with fewer hazardous results."
Wastewater Proven Helpful in Learning the Prevalence of COVID-19
Like other states, reporting COVI-19 cases has turned spotty in Florida, with a lot of learning of the diagnosis through at-home tests.
So far, as indicated in a report from Biobots Analytics, wastewater has proven helpful in learning the virus's prevalence.
Specifically, a wastewater analysis in South Florida counties shows COVID-19 cases are rising to levels last observed during the winter Omicron wave early this year.
According to the new analysis, Delta is no longer a factor in the state. Specimens taken in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties have shown Omicron and the newly detected subvariants described in a Prevention report are spreading at increasingly high levels.
Test Positivity Rate
With a seven-day daily coverage of over 10,200 cases on Friday, the state is now classified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as having a high transmission level.
In particular, Broward and Miami-Dade counties report a test positivity rate of over 20 percent. Meanwhile, the positivity rate of Palm Beach County is 18.9 percent. Health officials have considered transmission levels under control when the rate is below five percent.
Epidemiologist Jason Salemi from the University of South Florida has pointed out that they might finally be seeing some improvement in the Northeast, though not in Florida. In fact, three in four people live in the high-risk counties, "based on the hospitalization-based measure, he added."
Related information about the spread of COVID-19 subvariant is shown on TODAY's YouTube video below:
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