The Omicron BA.2 variant of the coronavirus now accounts for most of the new cases in Arizona and the United States. The good news, according to media reports, is it appears less likely to cause severe illness than the earlier Delta variant, and, if you’ve already had the Omicron BA.1 variant, you’re far less likely to get the BA.2 variant.
According to the Arizona Department of Health Services, the BA.2 variant now accounts for 65 percent of the new cases in the state. Another variant, Omicron BA.2.12, accounts for one-third of new cases. The Delta and Omicron BA.1 variants have all but disappeared among new cases in Arizona.
New variants of the virus are part of the natural progression of viruses, said Nathan Grubaugh, an epidemiologist at Yale University.
“The fact that there is a new variant isn’t surprising,” Grubaugh said on the Yale Medicine website. “Delta was never going to be the last variant—and Omicron is not going to be the last one. As long as there is a COVID-19 outbreak somewhere in the world, there is going to be something new that emerges.”
Grubaugh and Dr. Thomas Murray, MD told the Yale Medicine website the best way to prevent new variants is to get vaccinated and get a booster shot. If more people are fully vaccinated, they said it decreases the opportunities for the virus to spread and mutate. They recommended looking at the website of the Centers for Disease Control for guidelines on vaccinations and booster shots.
In the period since the Pioneer’s last coronavirus update in the May 25 issue, Arizona has seen a steady increase in the number of new cases each week. There were 16,334 new cases reported in the week leading up to June 15, the last time the Arizona Department of Health Services updated their coronavirus dashboard.
As of June 15, there had been 2,093,680 cases in Arizona, with 30,400 virus-related deaths. The Worldometers website, which tracks cases worldwide, said there were 50,625 active cases in Arizona, with 2,012,655 Arizonans having recovered. Statewide, the recovery rate is 97.5 percent.
Since the May 25 update, La Paz County has seen 91 new cases, including 31 in the week leading up to June 15. The total stands at 5,311. There were no virus-related deaths in the county reported between May 25 and June 15, and the total remains at 144.
Nationwide, Worldometers reports there have been 87,981,568 cases. With the U.S. population estimated at 330 million, this means more than 25 percent of Americans either have or have had the virus. There have been 1,038,289 virus-related deaths. A total of 83,765,122 have recovered. The national recovery rate is 98.7 percent. As of June 19, there were 3,171,018 active cases in the United States.
California leads all the states in the number of cases, and they are approaching the 10 million mark. As of June 19, they had 9,892,097 cases and 92,181 virus-related deaths. A total of 9,187,078 Californians have recovered.
For individuals who want to get tested or receive one of the vaccines that are available, there are many options in La Paz County. To learn more about them, go to the La Paz County Health Department’s website at la-paz-county-health-department.weebly.com.
