Omicron Subvariant Is Now 30% Of NYC COVID Cases

NEW YORK CITY — A coronavirus "subvariant" that's fueling viral surges worldwide now accounts for three in 10 cases in New York City, health officials said.

The city's COVID-19 alert level remains at "low" while officials track the spread of BA.2 — a sublineage of omicron that shows signs of even higher transmissibility.

Two weeks ago, state health officials found BA.2 accounted for 7.7 percent of cases tested in New York.

“Our most recent shows that around 30 percent and that’s also similar to what CDC’s data is showing and their prediction for this week for this region,” Celia Quinn, the city's deputy commissioner who heads the health department's public heath laboratory, said last week.

Ashwin Vasan, the newly installed city health commissioner, emphasized there's no evidence the subvariant causes more severe illness or increases risk of hospitalization.

"I think there's some suggestion that this subvariant may be similar to omicron in some ways, might be more associated with symptoms above the lungs," he said. "Less respiratory compromise and more upper respiratory tract. You know, the stuff he knows the itchy eyes, the runny nose. And so, I think there is some suggestion that BA.2 is following that same trend, but it's still quite early."

But some experts fear BA.2 could fuel a new COVID-19 surge.

Cases in the United Kingdom, among other European countries, have more than doubled, along with an uptick in hospitalizations, NPR reported. And China reported its first COVID-19 deaths in more than a year amid its worst surge since the coronavirus first emerged in Wuhan, the New York Times reported.

Jay Varma, who worked as a senior health adviser under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, tweeted he was worried high risk New Yorkers might not have enough time to get a third vaccine dose to combat BA.2.

"I’ve seen this film before," he tweeted. "And didn’t like the ending."

Varma has been vocal about reinstating vaccine mandates that Mayor Eric Adams lifted for many indoor settings.

For his part, Vasan stressed that the city has greater access to antiviral drugs and monoclonal antibodies.

"Whatever this virus throws at us, I think we're in a much stronger position than we've ever been in the two years of living with COVID," he said.