The BA.5 omicron subvariant still accounts for more than 4-in-5 COVID cases in the U.S., but two new subvariants have continued to gain ground in recent weeks.
According to the latest estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the BA.5 omicron subvariant still is responsible for 83.1% of COVID cases in the United States as of Tuesday.
Even though that makes it by far the most dominant variant of the virus currently circulating in the United States, it also represents a continued decrease in that dominance as two other omicron subvariants emerge.
According to CDC estimates, the BA.4.6 subvariant, a descendant of the BA.4 omicron strain, now is responsible for 11.9% of cases in the U.S., up from 10.9% a week ago.
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The BF.7 subvariant, descended from the dominant BA.5 strain, now makes up 2.3% of cases, according to the CDC.
New York is seeing nearly 15% of its COVID cases tied to the BA.4.6 subvariant, while an area of New England that includes Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island is seeing more than 3.9% of its cases caused by the BF.7 subvariant.
Both of these subvariants share several key traits, including mutations in their spike proteins that not only allow them to potentially be more infectious than previous strains, but also could allow them to reinfect individuals who were sickened by the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, according to physicians.
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"These newer variants of concern, help the virus itself escape natural immunity, or immunity that we have from vaccines or both,” Dr. Sharon Welbel of Cook County Health told NBC 5.
At this time, it is unclear whether the new bivalent COVID vaccines, formulated to help provide protection against omicron strains of the virus, will have any diminished efficacy against the new variants.
