Experts Warn of Dangers of New COVID-19 Variant

The new BA.5 COVID-19 variant is becoming more widespread, particularly in Chicago’s Cook County. As a result, health experts are warning people to take extra precautions in the coming months.

Back to the New Normal

The pandemic drastically changed everyday life, forcing people to become distant from neighbors and family. Except for some individuals, most were indoors and locked away from frequent social activity. This zoom-based and contactless way of life went on for nearly two years.

Then, in the first half of 2022, the public seemed to think the pandemic was over. It’s either that, or people grew tired of staying indoors. There have always been those skeptical of the virus who resited adhering to COVID mandates. Still, this six-month period was different because the overall attitude towards COVID seems to have died down. As they have done before, officials are trying to caution against getting too comfortable.

What Is Known About the New COVID Variant

The new BA.5 variant is a strain of the Omicron variant which gained prominence last year. The strain is now the most dominant of the coronavirus family and has a considerable effect on the increase in national cases. Rebecca Fischer and Ben Neuman are professors in epidemiology and biology at Texas A&M University, respectively.

They told Texas A&M Today about what they discovered while studying the virus since the pandemic’s beginning. This variant has a way of getting around our immunity by getting into unrecognizable spots. It threatens those who were already infected with some form of COVID-19, even those with vaccines and boosters.

When talking with Texas A&M Today, Fischer and Neuman emphasized how dangerous this new variant is: The other strains had more asymptomatic infections or showed no symptoms. At most, people were “likely to feel sick and miss out on school, work and other activities.” While there is not much data on BA.5, the professors warn that the variant can cause more severe effects on the brain and other areas.

What Steps Should Be Taken Next?

The Cook County Department of Public Health urges people to wear masks indoors and outdoors. In addition, they advise that people avoid poorly ventilated areas where COVID is a threat. People are also encouraged to be tested and get the necessary vaccines and boosters to help fight off the different variants that keep popping up.

Experts like Fischer and Neuman also believe there will be a time in the future when people can rest and not worry about putting on masks. However, for this future to become a reality, they say now is not the time to start acting recklessly.

The medical world is still learning more about how COVID-19 operates. This is why experts caution against the public playing with an actor(s) that is still very foreign and not fully understood.

Written by Chiagozie Onyewuchi
Edited by Cathy Milne-Ware

Sources:

Block Club Chicago: Wear Masks Indoors, Get Vaccinated And Tested As COVID BA.5 Spreads, County Health Officials Say; by Kelly Bauer
Texas A&M Today: BA.5: What To Know About The Omicron Subvariant Driving Up US COVID Cases; by Luke Henkhaus
Newsweek: COVID BA.5: Everything We Know About Highly Transmissible Variant; by Ed Browne

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Inset Image Courtesy of Chad Davis’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License