COVID Concerns: Omicron, BA.5, what are these variants and are we safe?
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - If the President of the United States, with all the precautions, vaccinations, and care he gets can catch COVID-19, what chance do we have?
It's a logical question to be asking this morning after President Biden tested positive for the virus.
POTUS is double-vaccinated and double-boosted, and if you are as well the medical experts say you have taken the most important steps that you can.
Does it feel like the COVID ride has been akin to being on a Kennywood coaster? This variant, that variant, now you're protected, now you're not.
Now, comes along more "COVID cousins."
"Our positivity rate is increasing due to BA.5," said Cleveland Clinic microbiologist Dr. Daniel Rhoades.
Dr. Rhoades said this new wave is more than just BA.5.
"That's the BA.4, BA.5 wave, so right now, just recently, BA.4 for BA.5 replaced or is replacing BA.2 as the dominant strain," he explained.
CBS News Medical Expert Dr. David Agus assess the BA.5 variant as "so infectious, it's on par with the most infectious viruses we as humans have ever seen."
Dr. Agus said it doesn't take much to spread it, going from a thousand particles to a hundred particles.
"Vaccines don't work as well at preventing infection as they did against earlier variants," Dr. Rhoads added. "Keeping people out of the hospital is important."
So, you might get sick, but the chances of hospitalization or death are diminished if you've been vaccinated.
Oh...did we mention, here comes BA.2-75?
"It kind of seems like an up-and-coming variant, but we don't know anything really except that it's emerging," Dr. Rhoads said.
So, bottom line, the vaccines might not completely protect you from BA.4 or BA.5 but they will help you stay out of the hospital and avoid the worst impacts of the virus.
Doctors have said if you have concerns about contracting the virus, even if you're vaccinated, return to masking and sanitizing.
