Coronavirus subvariant omicron BA.2 detected in Michigan
The BA.2 omicron subvariant, also called "stealth omicron," which is causing coronavirus surges in Western Europe and other parts of the world, has been detected in Michigan.
As of Friday, laboratory sequencing identified 99 specimens in Michigan residents from 21 counties and the city of Detroit, said Lynn Sutfin, spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
The majority of specimens came from Wayne County (19 specimens), Oakland and Washtenaw counties (15 each) and Macomb County (13). There were two specimens in the city of Detroit, Sutfin said.
She said other counties with specimens were: Barry, Berrien, Calhoun, Houghton, Ingham, Kalamazoo, Kent, Lapeer, Leelanau, Livingston, Marquette, Midland, Monroe, Oceana, Ottawa, Saginaw and St. Clair.
The first cases were detected the week ending Jan. 15, Sutfin said Friday.
At the time of a Free Press article about BA.2 in early February, no cases of the subvariant had been identified through whole genome sequencing. Sutfin said Friday that "it takes time for sequencing to occur and results to then be reported to MDHHS."
BA.2 is considered a sublineage of the omicron variant, according to a statement last month by the World Health Organization. It said initial data suggest BA.2 appears inherently more transmissible than BA.1, which remains the most common omicron sublineage reported.
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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said projections for the week ending March 12 estimate the combined national proportion of omicron lineages to be 100%. It said there are five lineages designated as omicron, with the national proportion of BA.2 projected to be 23.1%, or nearly a quarter of the cases.
Health officials said Friday that BA.2 accounts for about 30% of new cases in New York City, according to the New York Times.
BA.2 has been detected in at least 97 countries and all 50 U.S. states, according to outbreak.info, which analyzes data from the Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data, which tracks emerging variants of the virus around the world.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, said this week on "PBS NewsHour" that BA.2 is "more transmissible," but "it doesn't appear to be any more severe and it doesn't seem to evade immune responses either induced by the vaccine or by prior infection."
Michigan health officials said they are "closely monitoring the emergence of the (o)micron BA.2 wave in Europe to determine threat," according to the state's latest COVID-19 response data and modeling update dated Tuesday.
The update stated many countries in Europe are experiencing a surge attributed to BA.2. There is an increase in cases and hospital admissions, according to the state update, but not yet in lagging indicators such as intensive care units admissions and deaths.
Sutfin said Michigan health officials "continue to monitor for COVID-19 variants of concern and will update Michigan residents about any measures they should take to protect themselves from the virus as needed.
"We continue to urge all Michiganders ages 5 and older to get the safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine or to be boosted if eligible. The vaccine continues to be our best defense against the virus."
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Sixty percent of Michiganders age 5 and older are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, meaning they had two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. More than 3 million additional or booster doses have been administered in Michigan, according to the state data.
On Friday, the CDC released a study it said showed among adults hospitalized with COVID-19 during the delta and omicron surges those who received two or three doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine had 90%-95% less risk of dying or needing a ventilator compared with adults who were not vaccinated. Protection was highest in adults who received a third vaccine dose, the agency said.
A day earlier, Moderna announced it submitted a request to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to allow a fourth dose of its vaccine for those ages 18 and older.
Its request came two days after Pfizer and BioNTech announced it made a similar emergency use authorization request to the FDA for an additional booster dose for those age 65 and older.
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The CDC COVID-19 community levels update Thursday show the majority of Michigan counties in low levels in terms of new cases, hospital admissions and hospital beds.
Thirteen counties, all in northern Lower Michigan, are in medium level, per the CDC, meaning people at high risk for severe illness should talk with their health care provider about whether they need to wear a mask and take other precautions.
The state health department reported 1,385 new COVID-19 cases each day Thursday and Friday in Michigan. There were 572 adults and children hospitalized with the virus Friday, according to the state data.
MDHHS dropped its statewide mask advisory for many indoor places in mid-February.
Last week, it updated its quarantine guidance based on current conditions and low numbers of new COVID-19 cases to "reflect the fact that the state has entered a post-surge, recovery phase," Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, MDHHS chief medical executive said in a statement.
Staff writer Kristen Jordan Shamus contributed to this report.
Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @challreporter.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Omicron BA.2, latest coronavirus subvariant, detected in Michigan
