New version of omicron reported, dubbed ‘stealth omicron’

Rochester, New York – A new COVID variant – BA.2 – is nicknamed “stealth omicron.” So far it’s been detected in the state of Washington. “It doesn’t have the canary in a coal mine marker,” said Dr. Emil Lesho, infectious disease specialist at Rochester Regional Health.

According to Dr. Lesho, the new variant is trickier to test for. There is no evidence right now showing BA.2 to be more harmful than the original Omicron, though, for some places, it’s outpacing its parent virus, he said.

“There are some early indications that it’s more contagious than its parent’s strain, which is Omicron,” said Dr. Lesho.

According to Dr. Ed Walsh, head of Infectious Diseases at Rochester General Hospital, he agrees with Dr. Lesho that it’s too early to give any clear answer to what BA.2 is capable of. “It may just simply supplant the current omicron strain and from a clinical standpoint, not be really that noticeable, meaning we may not see any change in the illnesses. We may not see any change in the spread of the virus and so forth, but we don’t know this yet,” said Dr. Walsh.

According to Dr. Walsh, as time goes on and more COVID-19 variants emerge, more and more people will get infected by the virus. “My prediction is going to be that we all will become infected with one variant or another as time goes on because these vaccines are not going to be 100% protective from any infection. I think it’s going to be very, very hard to not get infected over your lifetime because I think this virus will become endemic. It won’t just vanish,” said Dr. Walsh.

Dr. Lesho said it’s not likely that omicron and its variants are the last we see of COVID-19. “We can’t take a false sense of security by believing omicron will be the last variant of concern. That said though, we are in a lot better place to deal with these variants. As more and more people get vaccinated or as more people become immune that will help a lot,” Dr. Lesho.