As Omicron subvariant spreads in Europe, could we see another US COVID surge? Health officials weigh in

DELMARVA- As a new subvariant of Omicron is spreading quickly across Europe, many are wondering if the US could suffer the same fate.

“They haven’t recommended switching anything yet, but until we get a greater penetration of the B2 variant here we’ll just have to keep an eye on it,” Dr. Chris Snyder, with TidalHealth, said.

It’s called BA.2 or the “Stealth” variant. Scientists in the UK said it’s spreading faster than the original Omicron variant and driving new cases up.

“From what I’m reading in Europe, it’s very similar to the initial Omicron variant so same kind of spreading capabilities,” Dr. Snyder said.

“The reason the virus is able to spread so quickly is not that is just eludes to testing, but also it’s elusive to a lot of vaccines,” Heather Snyder, Manager of Infection Prevention and Employee Health a Atlantic General Hospital, said.

While there are some very small pockets of the Stealth variant in the United States, Heather Snyder said it’s not really amounting to a surge in cases. Adding, that because this is a subvariant from Omicron science said that people who had Omicron can’t become infected with the variant.

“Because Omicron was so wide spread in our area there is that natural immunity and what we’ve learned throughout the course of COVID is that natural immunity can last up to 90 days,” Heather Snyder said.

And, a doctor from TidalHealth, in Salisbury, said while it’s hard to say if we’ll see another surge, we’re figuring out what tools work and don’t work against the subvariant.

“We are able to see what effectively treating it and we are finding that our monoclonal antibodies here do not impact the omicron B2 variants, so that is a little bit challenging,” Dr. Synder said.

While also keeping an eye on Europe, to see what we can learn from through this uncertain time.

“As they work through their own surge, what can we take back from their experience to apply what may be our next surge,” Heather Snyder said.

Dr. Snyder with TidalHealth tells me while the monoclonal antibodies don’t have impact on the subvariant we do have a bunch of oral antivirals that we can use.

And, with nicer weather coming to Delmarva, local health experts said to keep taking precautions if you attend an outdoor gathering.