BA.2 Variant Likely to Cause More Cases, Says Fauci

Chief Medical Advisor Anthony Fauci says an uptick in COVID cases could be seen in the US—similar to the cases observed in European countries—but hopefully, the country won’t see a surge.

The BA.2, a strain of the omicron variant, is 50% more transmissible and contributes to over 23% of the cases in the US. But the strain appears to cause less severe effects than its predecessors.

Fauci predicts that BA.2 will eventually take over omicron in becoming the most dominant variant. He also mentioned that it would not necessarily require hospitalization and there will not be any rise in the mortality rate.