The new BA.5 subvariant is highly transmissible, even for those who’ve already been infected with COVID-19 recently, health experts say.
Karan believes he contracted earlier Omicron subvariants. He has family members who were more recently infected and he thinks it is likely they contracted the BA.5 variant.How concerned should we be about this new BA.5 subvariant? NBC Bay Area’s Raj Mathai spoke to UCSF’s Dr. Peter Chin-Hong for some insight.
While vaccines may not prevent you from getting infected with new subvariants, Karan reiterated that getting vaccinated and boosted is still the best way to protect against severe illness and death. Plus, Karan noted, that while it seems clear more people will get repeat COVID-19 infections, what is less clear is how exactly those repeat infections will impact our overall health.
Santa Clara County shared that since June 5, around 8.5% of the COVID-19 cases in the county have been documented reinfections.