Joe Gastaldo, MD, System Medical Director for Infectious Diseases at OhioHealth, breaks down everything you need to know about Omicron subvariants in a recent fast fact video.
The virus that causes COVID-19 is an RNA virus. RNA viruses always mutate, and there are always new variants. Take influenza as an example. Every year, there are different flu strains covered by the annual vaccine.
SARS Coronavirus-2 has gone through various mutations, and the most recent is Omicron. The variants are named on letters from the Greek alphabet. Someday there will be a Pi variant, which has not yet been identified.
People are starting to learn about subvariants, which we also had with Delta. Within Omicron, there are two different subvariants called BA2 and BA3. BA2 has been identified in high rates in Denmark and other European countries.
So far, we think BA2 is slightly more transmissible or contagious than the original Omicron. Our current vaccines still perform well against BA2, and it has not been known to cause a higher severity of illness.
We know that BA2 is already in several states and is probably in Ohio now, although it has not been officially identified here. With the identification of the BA2 subvariant, it could lead to a slower downslope of us coming off the Omicron surge.
Want to learn more about common COVID-19 questions? Check our Fast Facts page.
