#17,011
After weeks with BA.5 dominating, and BA.4.6 only making small gains, two `new' variants (BA.2.75 & BF.7) have been added to this week's Nowcast - and while both are still minor players - we'll be watching closely to see how well they can compete against the currently dominant variants.
We've known that BA.2.75 was circulating at low levels in the United States, but until this week, it had been lumped together with other BA.2.x subvariants.
Former high-flying Omicron variants BA.2, BA.2.12.1, BA.1.1.529, and BA.1.1 are now shown to be virtually extinct in the United States. Surveillance, testing, and genomic sequencing are limited (and variable) around the country, so Nowcast numbers should be viewed as rough estimates.
Whether any of these viral interlopers have what it takes to dislodge BA.5 remains to be seen, but history has shown that Omicron variants tend to reign for only a few months before being replaced, making BA.5 a bit long in the tooth.
As much as people would like BA.5 to be COVID's last hurrah, the appearance of BA.2.75 and BF.7 should remind us how just how mutable the SARS-CoV-2 virus is, and that the future course of the pandemic is far from certain.
