The BA.5 'ninja' COVID-19 variant is now dominant in Georgia. What that means, and what to do

Remember COVID?

After two years of warnings, testing, vaccinations, masking, isolating, boosters, political back-and-forths and just general pandemic fatigue it's understandable that people want to get on with their lives and forget about the whole ordeal.

But people are getting sick again thanks to the newest, highly transmissible omicron subvariant BA.5. And, worse, many of them are people contracting the virus again despite vaccinations or immunity from previous infections.

According to the latest report from the Centers for Disease Control, the BA.5 variant now accounts for 65% of all reported COVID cases in the U.S. and 66.5% of all reported cases in Region 4, which includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North and South Carolina, and Tennessee.

What is BA.5? Here's a quick primer on what it is, and whether you should be concerned.

COVID cases on the rise: Army Cyber, NSA Georgia at Fort Gordon reinstate masking policy

Read more: Through COVID and isolation, Piedmont Athens hospital chaplains hold fast to faith

Many act like the pandemic has ended: That's not an option for the immunocompromised

What is the new BA.5 'ninja' coronavirus variant?

Dr. Eric Topol, head of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, called BA.5 “the worst variant yet.”

The omicron strain of COVID-19 is a relatively mild version of the COVID-19 virus in that symptoms and the chances of disease and death are lower than with the original virus or the delta strain.

But the omicron variant and its subvariants like BA.4 and BA.5 are much easier to spread around, and BA.5 is the most contagious yet with an increased ability to get around vaccinations and immunity from previous infections.

Variant surge: Experts call COVID omicron variant warnings too little, too late

Remember, the rising counts we have are based on the official COVID case numbers and hospitalizations. Most people are testing themselves at home now and those numbers, more often than not, are not counted in the official tally. The actual number of COVID cases is almost certainly many times larger than we know.

Can I get COVID from BA.5 if I've had it already?

Yes. Variants are caused by mutations that make the virus more adaptable, and the BA.5 is able to at least partially get around some of the immunity people may have from vaccinations and previous infections.

"Not only is it more infectious, but your prior immunity doesn't count for as much as it used to," Dr. Bob Wachter, the chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, told NPR. "And that means that the old saw that, 'I just had COVID a month ago, and so I have COVID immunity superpowers, I'm not going to get it again' — that no longer holds."

Is the BA.5 variant of coronavirus more dangerous?

Not really, according to studies. It's just much easier to catch and pass on. While cases have been up again, hospitalizations and deaths haven't been anywhere near the heights of the initial omicron surge and the majority of people catching it again are not seeing severe illness, especially if they've been vaccinated.

But because cases are spreading again, that increases the chances for more mutations and more variants, and some of them might get stronger and more infectious. Any COVID infection, even asymptomatic ones, may lead to Long COVID issues. And, as we discovered during the pandemic, resources that go to COVID patients can't be used for others and healthcare centers can be overworked and overstressed.

"We need to keep the levels of virus to the lowest possible level, and that is our best defense," Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Tuesday. "If a virus is not very robustly replicating and spreading, it gives it less of a chance of a mutation, which gives it less of a chance of the evolving of another variant."

Currently, we are seeing roughly 300-350 people dying from COVID in the U.S., on average, per day. A big drop from the summers of 2020 and 2021, but still too many preventable deaths. The Georgia Department of Health reported 78 confirmed COVID-related deaths in the week ending July 13.

Do vaccines work against the BA.5 variant of COVID?

Yes, but.

BA.5 seems to be able to evade some of the vaccines and immunity from previous cases but vaccines and boosters still help keep the virus from being too serious, preventing hospitalizations and death and reducing the chances of Long COVID. And the more people up-to-date on their vaccines and boosters, the fewer places for BA.5 to spread and mutate.

In June, an FDA panel approved companies reformulating COVID-19 boosters to more directly target the omicron variants, including BA.5, in time for an expected increase in the fall.

What are the symptoms of the new omicron variant?

The reported symptoms of the BA.5 variant are similar to the other COVID variants: fever, coughing, sore throat, runny nose, headaches, muscle pain and fatique. Some health care providers have reported seeing more patients complaining about loss of smell, which till now was lessening with every variant.

How long are you contagious with the BA.5 variant?

"A person with COVID-19 is considered infectious starting two days before they develop symptoms, or two days before the date of their positive test if they do not have symptoms," according to the CDC.

If you test positive, stay home for at least five days and isolate from other people. Wear a mask if you must be around other people. After five days, if you are fever-free for 24 hours without medicine you can end your isolation. If you don't have symptoms, you can stop isolating five days after your positive test. You still should avoid people or wear a mask for ten full days and do not travel. If you got very sick or have a weakened immune system, you should isolate for ten full days and talk to your doctor before ending it.

Is it the flu, a cold, or COVID-19?: How to know, and when to get tested

Is it more dangerous to get COVID more than once?

COVID attacks all the systems and organs in the body so repeated bouts of it increase the chances of complications including stroke, heart attack, diabetes, digestive and kidney disorders and long-term cognitive impairment.

Reinfections also increase the chances for Long COVID, a syndrome of ongoing COVID symptoms that can reemerge and last for weeks, months or longer.

Long COVID: Why aren't my symptoms going away? Why did they come back? Am I a long-hauler?

How can I avoid getting COVID?

This part hasn't changed. Keep your vaccinations and boosters up-to-date. Now that vaccines have been cleared for children under five, get your children vaccinated to protect them and help prevent spread. Wear a mask (well-fitting, with nose and mouth covered) if you're not feeling well, if you have family members who are immunocompromised, if you're indoors around strangers, or if you're in public areas of high-risk transmission which, as of July 15, is about half of Georgia according to the CDC's COVID tracker.

'We can't let our guard down': I was vaxxed, masked and careful, yet still caught COVID-19

C. A. Bridges is a Digital Producer for the USA TODAY Network, working with multiple newsrooms across Florida. Local journalists work hard to keep you informed about the things you care about, and you can support them by subscribing to your local news organization. Read more articles by Chris here and follow him on Twitter at @cabridges

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: BA.5 coronavirus variant now causing most COVID cases: What to know