Most Americans are done with COVID — the lockdowns, the masks, the fear — but apparently, the virus isn’t quite done with us.
The latest unpleasant news comes from the World Health Organization (WHO) as a new subvariant of Omicron known as BA.5 continues its spread across the U.S. and the world.
“The virus is running freely,” the WHO said. “New waves of the virus demonstrate again that covid-19 is nowhere near over,” according to WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
It’s not just the U.S. that’s being hit. “A new COVID-19 wave is ramping up across the European Union,” the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control said Monday in a statement. The center said governments should prepare “for a next expected wave in the autumn and winter seasons.”
Meanwhile in China, the spread of the BA.5 subvariant raises concerns that cities like Shanghai, home to nearly 30 million people, might be forced back into lockdown.
On Tuesday, the White House urged Americans to get yet another booster for COVID, this time to address the BA.5, which has quickly become the dominant strain in the U.S.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now estimates BA.5 accounts for about 65% of all COVID cases in the U.S. Another strain, BA.4, is responsible for about 16% of infections.
“BA.5 is something we’re closely monitoring, and most importantly, we know how to manage it,” Ashish Jha, the White House’s COVID response coordinator, said Tuesday.
“We can prevent serious illness, we can keep people out of the hospital and especially out of the ICU, we can save lives, and we can minimize the disruptions caused by COVID-19,” Jha said. “And even in the face of BA.5, the tools we have continue to work.”
BA.5 concerns scientists because it can infect people who have already had COVID or been vaccinated.
Last month, a panel of independent advisers that works with the Food and Drug Administration recommended producing new COVID vaccines to target the Omicron variant.
By a 19-2 vote, the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee approved a plan to have new vaccines ready by early October. The panel said the newly formulated vaccines are needed because new subvariants of the Omicron strain appear to be able to bypass antibodies delivered via previous vaccines.
That would mean Americans could be urged to take a fourth shot, with fifth shots for the immunocompromised and people over 50 years old.
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.