COVID-19 subvariant BA.5 is now the most dominant strain in Houston; It’s also the most

HOUSTON,Texas – It’s official, the Center For Disease Control said the new Omicron subvariant, BA.5, is currently the dominant strain of COVID-19 in the United States, now making up nearly 54% of new cases nationally.

It has also become the dominant strain right here in Houston.

“What we’ve seen is that the BA.5 has now become the dominant variant in the Houston area in the symptomatic patients that we are testing,” said Dr. Wesley Long with Houston Methodist Hospital.

Doctors say the new subvariant is the most contagious form of COVID-19 we’ve seen yet and even more alarming, is the fact that it’s infecting both people who’ve already had COVID-19 and those who’ve been both vaccinated and boosted.

To make matters worse, COVID cases in Houston are currently surging.

“We are in the midst of the worst surge of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic in terms of the number of infected people out in the community,” said Dr. Steven McDeavitt, at Baylor College Of Medicine.

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The 14-day test positivity rate for Harris County now stands at 27.2%

The viral load of COVID-19 in the Houston wastewater samples is more than 700% higher than it was in July of 2020, near the beginning of the pandemic.

To help battle the new BA.5 subvariant, testing is now underway for a multipronged umbrella vaccine aimed at stopping future mutations.

This fall, the United States government is expected to introduce a completely new booster shot that will specifically target Omicron.