A new subvariant of omicron has continued to assert its dominance as the primary strain of COVID-19 circulating in the United States, making up nearly 60% of cases nationwide according to the latest estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to new CDC data released Tuesday, the BA.2.12.1 subvariant of omicron, which became the dominant strain of the COVID virus in the United States last week, now makes up an estimated 59.1% of cases nationwide as of May 28.
The BA.2 subvariant, which until last week had been the dominant strain in the United States, continued to see its presence drop this week, making up an estimated 34.7% of cases.
Different subvariants of omicron make up 99.9% of COVID cases currently occurring in the United States, according to CDC data.
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In Region 5, comprised of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio, the BA.2.12.1 subvariant is responsible for an estimated 54.6% of cases, according to CDC officials.
In Illinois, the BA.2 subvariant still was responsible for more than 66% of cases in the state as of May 21, but new data has not yet been published for this week, officials with the state Department of Public Health said.
Cases of COVID in Illinois have slowly begun to decrease in recent days, peaking at an average of 6,273 new cases per day as of May 19. Since then, new cases have declined to 4,923 per day as of Tuesday.
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More than 3.3 million cases of COVID have been reported in the state since the pandemic began, with 33,814 confirmed fatalities and 4,321 more deaths that are currently classified as “probable” COVID fatalities.
