SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — The World Health Organization is keeping a close eye on a new COVID variant that's quickly making its way around the world. It's a mutation from the omicron variant.
Medical experts say it's so new that they don't know a lot about it. It’s a huge concern here in San Diego, where omicron has spread quickly, hitting our county hard.
Now, just as we're starting to turn the corner on it, there’s a fear that this new sub-variant that could be even more contagious. Fortunately, at this point, the symptoms don't appear to be more severe.
This variant of omicron is called BA.2 and It's been detected in at least 22 states, including California.
While local health officials haven't confirmed it's been reported in San Diego, experts believe it's here.
“Every time we try to close the door and keep these new variants out, it's too late,” said Dr. Mark Sawyer with Rady Children's Hospital and UCSD. “They've already spread,”
The big question: will the vaccine work against it? Unfortunately, right now it's too early to answer that.
“You may not be completely protected from getting infected and transmitting it to others, we've certainly learned that with omicron - lots of fully vaccinated and booster people still managed to get the infection, but they weren't very sick,” Dr. Sawyer said.
While that's good news, it's still frustrating for many that two years into the pandemic we're still seeing surges and variants with unknown symptoms.
“These variants are just probably going to keep popping up over time and we're just going to have to learn to deal with it, you know,” said Jill Dettinger, who, like many, is suffering from COVID fatigue. “I mean the vaccinations are helping, masking helps, but I don't know, it's getting old.”
BA.2 is also called stealth omicron because the tests hospitals and health departments use to identify the original omicron variant don't work for this one.
COVID testing, including at-home testing will still give you a positive result if you have it. If you have it, stay home, and help stop the spread.
Despite how hard omicron has hit San Diego, Dr. Sawyer believes better days are not that far away.
“So, I'm looking forward, optimistically, to the spring. I do think we'll be over omicron and back to sort of the way we were in the fall, living, co-existing with COVID.”
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