Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

  Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/JmgpYgCRlc4   Cases due to the Omicron Subvariant BA2 that I call Omicron BA2 are on the rise all over the world, and this subvariant is on the way to eclipsing cases due to the initial Omicron subvariant BA1.  It is already the dominant cause of cases in Denmark, Singapore, India, South Africa, and Austria.  Reports from England indicate that children are harder hit than adults, and a number of them have developed Omicron2 within weeks to months after an infection with Omicron1.  Omicron2 cases now represent nearly 12% of new cases in the US.   Let’s look at some of OmicronBA2’s characteristics.  OmicronBA2 is more difficult to identify even with PCR tests presenting a challenge to public health officials attempting to quantitate numbers of cases.  It has been nicknamed the stealth variant.  The accuracy of home rapid CoVid tests for Omicron detection is not well documented.   OmicronBA2 is estimated to be 40% more transmissible than OmicronBA1 due to a change in its spike protei