This is potentially very disturbing. A large multi-site Japanese study comparing #Omicron (BA1) to its much-mutated descendant #BA2 finds the later is more transmissible & more pathogenic.
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) February 17, 2022
MORE https://t.co/s9gp49OsWN
“According to news reports, researchers in Israel have identified a handful of cases in which people who had recovered from BA.1 became infected with BA.2. Meanwhile, Danish researchers have begun a study to determine how freq such reinfections occur” https://t.co/e5eMXdvZpR
— Abraar Karan (@AbraarKaran) February 18, 2022
Bad news: "#Omicron #BA2 is not neutralized with detectable titer by any of the therapeutic monoclonal antibodies…The results demonstrate the difficulty of identifying broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibodies against #SARSCoV2 " https://t.co/Vq6b6eXRLg
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) February 17, 2022
4) Also worrisome, the #BA2 subvariant is surging in Denmark — notably even a new sub-subvariant #BA2_H78Y subtype is growing incredibly fast.
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) February 18, 2022
(HT @DrWilliamKu using Danish data) pic.twitter.com/JIddag7YkQ
#America,
— Ebony Jade Hilton, MD (@EbonyJHilton_MD) February 12, 2022
This is what happens when you lift #COVIDMandates at the time of ongoing #OmicronSurge, specifically #BA2. Denmark lifted theirs on February 1st. Largely states began lifting theirs this week. So this is your 2 weeks peek into the future.
It didn’t have to be this way. https://t.co/OTcPGaxMVb
PSS, understand historically we’ve lagged ~2 weeks behind cases in Europe when new variants are found… so let me introduce to you #BA2… #StealthOmicron. Shouldn’t have to continue to emphasize to people that we have NEVER been ahead, but here we are.
— Ebony Jade Hilton, MD (@EbonyJHilton_MD) February 16, 2022
https://t.co/3W0fbrXkSa
A lot of folks are asking what BA.2 is, and this is a great overview. I’m not a COVID expert, just “following the science.” We know BA.2 is more infectious than the original Omicron (BA.1), but we don’t know a ton about severity. https://t.co/MNbKqwFoQY
— Hayley McMahon (@McMisoprostol) February 19, 2022
Sad! 