BA.5 is Rising in NYC and Across the County, What You Need to Know
As summer progresses, it may feel like we are finally finished with the COVID pandemic. Masks aren’t required in many areas, kids are back in school, and people are back at work, but unfortunately, the pandemic is not coming to a close yet. Top health experts are theorizing that there may be a sixth wave of COVID coming due to the omicron subvariant BA.5. The subvariant was first reported in South Africa and Portugal. Some believe that it is the worst version of omicron yet because it is highly transmittable even for people with prior immunity 6.
The prevalence of BA.5 in New York is growing. Between June 19th — July 2, 2022, 40.1% of COVID tests recorded in the state were contributed to the BA.5 subvariant 1. The five New York City boroughs have been identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as ‘high-risk’ COVID communities 2. The @nychealthy Twitter page run by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene posted on July 8th, “We’re currently seeing high levels of COVID-19 in NYC. To help slow the spread, all New Yorkers should wear a high-quality mask, such as an N95, KN95 or KF94 in all public indoor settings and around crowds outside” 3.
Health experts are concerned due to the rising COVID numbers and ongoing research. A preliminary research study published in Nature journal suggests that omicron subvariant BA.5 shows antibody resistance. Per the study’s authors “As the Omicron lineage has evolved over the past few months, each successive subvariant has seemingly become better and better at human transmission as well as in antibody evasion” 4. It is concerning that new subvariants are showing increased antibody resistance and transmission rates because another preliminary research article suggests that there is a link between adverse health outcomes and the number of infections 5. This implies that people are more likely to have unfavorable outcomes such as severe illness, long-lasting side effects, and possibly death with each new COVID infection a person has.
The good news is that we are more prepared and educated to fight a new wave of COVID. The CDC recommends the following methods to protect yourself and others against the spread of COVID 7,
- Get vaccinated and boosted
- Wear a mask
- Practice social distancing
- Avoid poorly ventilated areas and crowds
- Test if needed
- Practice good hand hygiene
- Cover your coughs and squeezes
- Clean and disinfect common areas
- Monitor health daily, if you don’t feel well stay home and get tested
- Follow CDC quarantine and isolation guidelines
- Take precautions when traveling
References:
https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/covid-19-variant-data
https://twitter.com/nycHealthy?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05053-w (2022).
https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-1749502/v1
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/prevention.html
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