(WXYZ) — A new omicron subvariant threatens a fresh wave of COVID-19 infections across the country.
Here in Michigan, doctors say the BA.5 strain is expected to become dominant by the end of this month.
"When we first saw BA.5, it was low, it was counting for approx 8% of cases. Last week about 54% of cases in the country and Michigan were BA.5," said Dr. Dennis Cunningham, Director of Infection Control and Prevention at Henry Ford Health.
BA.5 is reported to have similar symptoms to other variants but is milder. However, Cunningham says scratchy throat and hoarse voice are common symptoms.
"A couple of reasons that could happen, its either BA.5 is not that virulent, or cause severe disease, and we have a lot more availability of oral medicines to treat COVID and vaccination, and even though those antibodies start to drop over time, there still seems to be some protection against severe disease," said Dr. Cunningham.
According to Cunningham, the new variant is increasing hospitalization across southeast Michigan, but ICU admissions are low. He says children, people with comorbidities, and those over 70 years old are most at risk.
"BA.5 does have the ability to escape some of our immune protection after natural infection and there have been reports that it's very possible to be infected with BA.5 within 4 weeks with a previous COVID infection," said Cunningham.
Meanwhile, with new COVID infections surging across the country CDC is once again suggesting people start wearing face masks.
"Will there be a mandate, I don’t know, that’s going to be a more political issue, but I do think we are at a point that we need to seriously consider wearing a mask especially if you are vulnerable," said Cunningham.
Cunnigham says the pandemic is not going away anytime soon. The best prevention tools are still the same, mask up and socially distance whenever possible and people are urged to stay up to date with their COVID-19 vaccine.