Pasadena Public Health Dept. Tracking New, Fast-Spreading COVID Variant BA.2

Pasadena Public Health Director Dr. Ying-Ying Goh said Friday her department is carefully monitoring the COVID-19 variant BA.2, which was first detected by doctors internationally two months ago and is now spreading quickly across the U.S.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the BA.2 variant appears to be on its way to becoming the dominant COVID strain in the country. For the week of March 5, BA.2 accounted for 14.2 percent of US cases but jumped to 23.1 percent of all cases by March 12.

“We are actively tracking on new information on BA.2 as it becomes available. Some of this information is coming from countries in Europe and other parts of the world where BA.2 proportions have been increasing and cases are increasing,” Dr. Goh told Pasadena Now in an interview Friday.

“Multiple factors may be contributing in addition to the predominance of BA.2, including waning immunity from prior infection or vaccination and loosening of public health measures.”

The BA.2 virus is a strain of the highly contagious Omicron variant that appears to spread even more easily.

Because BA.2 quickly overtook the original Omicron in other countries, researchers have been bracing for the same thing to happen in the U.S.

As of today, it is believed Pasadena has not yet seen the circulation of the variant locally. Dr. Goh reported that COVID cases in the city have flattened recently after an earlier Omicron surge.

“In Pasadena, we are not continuing to see a rapid decline and instead are consistently seeing on average 15 new cases per day,” Dr. Goh said.

As the new COVID variant spreads in the U.S., PPHD is advising the public to be up to date on COVID-19 vaccination, including booster doses, for everyone ages 5 years and up to lower their risk of getting and spreading the virus.

PPHD is also advising residents who want to avoid illness to wear masks and avoid higher-risk situations like crowded indoor spaces, especially if they or their loved ones have incomplete or no vaccination or underlying medical conditions.