Following news that it had arrived in California and Los Angeles County, Long Beach health officials announced Friday that a new subset of the coronavirus omicron variant is present in the city.
The new subvariant—known as BA.2—is different than the omicron BA.1, which makes up the vast majority of cases in the area.
BA.2 first appeared in South Africa in December and has since spread to almost 50 other countries. Long Beach health officials said they confirmed their first case of the subvariant on Friday.
How is it different than omicron BA.1?
It’s not clear yet how BA.2 may affect the current surge in coronavirus cases.
There is “some indication” BA.2 may spread more easily than the original omicron, “but right now it does not appear that BA.2 causes more severe illness,” Long Beach health officials said in a statement Friday evening.
Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said scientists are working rapidly to determine how quickly BA.2 spreads and how sick it makes people.
“In places that have already passed their peak of omicron cases, it does appear that BA.2 is causing a new surge,” she said in a statement. “In places at their peak of the omicron surge that have significant BA.2 prevalence, it doesn’t appear that BA.2 is behaving dramatically different than other omicron lineages.”
Do vaccines still work?
Health officials say vaccines, along with the same common-sense precautions in place for omicron, are the best line of defense against BA.2.
“Early data from the U.K. show that being up to date on COVID-19 vaccines (fully vaccinated or vaccinated plus boosted for those eligible) protects just as well against severe disease in BA.2,” Long Beach health officials said.
Although it’s not yet clear if someone who contracted omicron can be reinfected with BA.2, the two versions of the virus do not appear to be dramatically different.
Compared with other omicron lineages, “BA.2 does not really have many unique mutations that would be impacting the part of the virus that’s targeted by our immune system,” Ferrer said.
What’s Long Beach doing in response?
So far the city has not signaled any tighter restrictions in response to the new subvariant, but officials announced they’d open two new walk-up testing sites Monday with no appointments needed.
Since hitting record highs, cases had been on the decline recently in Long Beach. Driven by the original omicron variant, the city averaged 2,282 new cases per day back on Jan. 13, but that had dropped to 991 as of Friday.
“While the omicron surge may have peaked, cases remain extraordinarily high when compared with previous surges,” the city said in a statement. “It is important that everyone continue to remain diligent as BA.2 may have the potential to extend the current surge or cause a new surge, and it is not yet clear whether a person who has contracted the omicron variant of COVID-19 can be reinfected by BA.2.”