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Q: What is the BA.2 subvariant of the omicron variant of COVID-19?

A: The BA.2 subvariant of the omicron variant of COVID-19 is more contagious subvariant that is increasing in prevalence in the United States and is causing surges internationally in both China and the United Kingdom. Now whether it will cause another surge of concern in the Crossroads remains to be seen, according to local health officials.

As of this week the BA.2 subvariant makes up an 34.9% of all COVID-19 cases that are publicly known, according the Centers of Disease Control and prevention. That has grown from 22.3% of all COVID-19 cases that are publicly known the previous week.

In Texas, as of the week of March 12, BA.2 made up an estimated 30.1% of COVID-19 cases in the state, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.

BA.2 acts much in the same way as the basic omicron variant, which had milder symptoms to previous variants and didn’t stress hospital systems as well, said David Gonzales, ×ã½»ÊÓƵ County Public Health Department director. This despite the fact it is 67% more contagious than the original omicron variant.

However, despite its growing prevalence in the U.S. the case trend line both nationally and state continues to stay steady after declining from the omicron surge in December and January.

Locally, it is staying steady as well regardless of the mix in genome of the cases, said Emmanuel Opada, ×ã½»ÊÓƵ County Public Health epidemiologist.

Usually the U.S. will tend to follow the United Kingdom’s trends, according previous interviews with Gonzales, which has seen a 60% increase in the last two weeks.

However, this, along with looking at major metro areas in Texas to predict how ×ã½»ÊÓƵ will trend are anecdotal and thus aren’t always reliable measurements, Gonzales said.

It’s hard to say if another surge will happen because of BA.2, he said.

The best thing people can do to protect themselves from BA.2 is continue with the tried and true safety measure of staying home when they are feeling sick, wearing masks, getting vaccinated, monitoring the risk levels from the CDC in their county and talking to their doctor if they are high risk about what other precautions they should take, Gonzales said.