BOISE, Idaho — An Idaho Medical expert is urging Idahoans to avoid becoming complacent with COVID-19 mitigation efforts.
The latest battle against the virus is subvariant B.A.2, derived from the Omicron variant. B.A.2 is now the dominant strain in the United States and over 60 other countries.
“Some of these foreign countries have had very big surges, Canada is ahead of us, they're starting to have their surge already,” said Dr. David Pate, former CEO of St. Luke’s Health System. “We will have to see what happens here, this B.A.2 now is dominant, it is the predominant strain all across the United States, particularly so on the two coasts and particulars up north.”
According to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfares website, 4,171 Idahoans have tested positive for Omicron, including subvariants like B.A.2. According to Dr. Pate, it's too soon to say that the new subvariant is more or less severe than the previous ones. He added, that it is currently the dominant strain in Idaho and that it's more contagious than the original Omicron.
“Each variant has gotten more contagious and that's what we have to worry about,” Dr. Pate said. “Omicron overall was the first one to cause less severe disease.”
Dr. Pate said that current vaccines are holding up well against the new subvariant. He says those who are not vaccinated are at high risk of catching B.A.2 and should consider getting vaccinated.
“It could cause lots of cases, lots of infections, and given that our vaccination rate isn't great, yes, we could certainly see a lot of hospitalizations, even a lot of deaths, I don't think anything is going to put us back into lockdown,” Dr. Pate said.
According to Dr. Pate, it is impossible to say whether or not B.A.2 will impact Idaho as it has in other states.
“You may recall Alpha, way back to Alpha, Washington and Oregon had a big surge with Alpha, we didn't in Idaho, I have no idea why we didn't, but this virus is not totally predictable.” Dr. Pate said.
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