CDC Data Confirms Covid-19 Hospital Admissions Climb Per Capita
A new, rapidly spreading coronavirus variant has sounded alarm bells for public health experts in the United States amid a rise in cases across the country.
Doctors warned that the BA.2.86 variant – unofficially called “Pirola” – may be cause for concern as it is a newly-designated, highly-mutated variant of Omicron which triggered a surge in cases in a number of countries including the US.
According to a Thursday bulletin in Yale Medicine, the new variant has more than 30 mutations to its spike protein - located on the outer surface of a coronavirus - which helps it enter and infect human cells.
“Such a high number of mutations is notable,” infectious disease specialist Dr Scott Roberts said. “When we went from [Omicron variant] XBB.1.5 to [Eris] EG.5, that was maybe one or two mutations.
“But these massive shifts, which we also saw from Delta to Omicron, are worrisome.”
A separate mini-wave of Covid cases is being fueled by the newest dominant variant EG.5, or “Eris”. It has caused hospitalisations to increase by 39 per cent since the end of July.
CDC Covid tracker
15,067 hospitalisations from 13 August to 19 August
