Highly Contagious BA.2 Omicron Strain Spreading in the United States

Highly Contagious BA.2 , Omicron Strain Spreading in the United States.

NPR reports as the surge of the Omicron variant subsides, infectious disease experts say they've kept a close watch on a more contagious version of the strain.

Known as BA.2, a variant of Omicron, it is said to be at least 30% more contagious than its previous iteration.

As the variated version of Omicron quickly became the prominent version of COVID-19 in Denmark and South Africa, .

Health officials say they have prepared for the same occurrence in the United States.

A lot of us were assuming that it was going to quickly take off in the United States just like it was doing in Europe and become the new dominant variant.

, Nathan Grubaugh, associate professor of epidemiology Yale School of Public Health, via NPR.

Thus far, BA.2 has not overtaken the original Omicron variant in the United States.

Per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, BA.2 is responsible for 3.9% of the country's new infections.

Officials say the variated virus could be poised to explode in the not-so-distant future.

If it doubles again to 8%, that means we're into the exponential growth phase and we may be staring at another wave of COVID-19 coming in the U.S. , Samual Scarpino, director of pathogen surveillance Rockefeller Foundation, via NPR.

Experts say they expect the emergence of BA.2 to extend the wave of Omicron, .

But they haven't ruled out the possibility of another surge in the COVID-19 pandemic