Rates of new infections with SARS-CoV-2 were so consistently low after the post-holiday surge, per the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions COVID tracker, that many public health officials at the federal and state levels started to wonder if we could declare the pandemic “over.” Such conjecture now seems to have been premature as positive tests are again climbing (albeit relatively slowly), possibly thanks to new Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5. As first reported by Fortune based on data it received from the CDC, the new variants have been identified from coast to coast in the United States. BA.4 has turned up in California, the District of Columbia, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. BA.5 has also shown up in California, as well as Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, and Oklahoma.
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Are New Omicron Variants Driving the Latest Climb in New COVID-19 Infections?