ANN ARBOR, Mich. (WXYZ) — Despite a decline in daily cases for the past few months, relatively new COVID-19 sub-variants are on the rise in the U.S.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the omicron subvariant BA.5 is currently responsible for nearly 68% of all cases in the U.S.
The remaining cases are mostly from another variant BA.4.6, along with newly identified variants B.Q.1, B.Q.1.1 and BF.7.
On Tuesday, 40-year-old Eric Pfitzenmaier got his COVID-19 bivalent booster shot, which is specific to omicron. He made the appointment just hours earlier.
“I made it today, I'm here getting the shot right now,” Pfitzenmaier said.
The new booster has been available for just over a month and at least 11.5 million people have received it, including about 910,000 Michiganders like Eric.
“As long as the threat exists, I'm going to continue to get boosted and vaccinated," Pfitzenmaier said.
“Unfortunately, we have not seen a great uptake with this new booster,” said Dr. Anurag Malani, Infectious Disease lead for COVID-19 Response at Trinity Health Michigan Ann Arbor. "I would highly recommend those who have not had a booster in the last couple months that are at risk for severe illness really get the booster as quickly as they can.”
Malani hopes more people will get the shot, especially as new omicron subvariants emerge. He says the updated booster should provide some immune response against these new strains, which are thought to be more immune evasive.
"It is thought to be effective for this,” Malani said. “This is a booster that is really meant to be highly effective for prevention of B.A.4 and B.A.5, and that’s really what we're seeing at this time.”
Malani says over the last few months, his hospital in Ann Arbor has still consistently had 20 to 30 COVID-19 patients at any given time. There is concern cases could grow as the weather gets colder.
“There’s been a slight uptick. We're watching closely," Malani said. "The weather is cooling down, people are more likely to start going indoors. I think we just have to see where this goes.”
For 73-year-old Bernadette White of Southfield, she still takes strong precautions and plans to get her updated booster soon, hoping to avoid getting sick this winter.
“I'm constantly wiping things down and I'm wearing my mask at all times. I don't care where I go,” White said. "I think for me, I will be wearing a mask a long time.”
Malani says heading into winter, COVID-19 is still more serious than influenza and should be taken seriously with vaccines and masking when appropriate. However, he doesn't believe travel or holiday plans need to be put on hold.
"The landscape has changed... I really don't think you should change travel plans," Malani said. "But, I think one should think about the evidence based mitigation measures.”