White House Announces Plans to Manage Omicron Subvariant BA.5

On July 12, 2022, the Biden Administration announced plans to reduce and manage the spread of BA.5, a COVID Omicron subvariant, in a White House press statement. According to the release, 80% of COVID cases in the United States are caused by BA.4 and BA.5, with BA.5 being the most significant.  

The European CDC (ECDC) states, “BA.4 and BA.5 were first detected in South Africa in January and February 2022, respectively, and since then, they have become the dominant variants there.” 

Their epidemiologic update also included that these variants are pervasive despite vaccination status. While vaccinations and boosters provide some protection and have been effective in preventing severe illness, they are not as effective at fending off the BA.5 variant as other iterations of the disease.  

In a recent Nature article, Christian Althaus, a computational epidemiologist at the University of Bern, postulates that “the rise of BA.4 and BA.5 seems to stem, instead, from their capacity to infect people who were immune to earlier forms of Omicron and other variants.”  

As of July 13, 2022, the CDC states that an average of 118,026 new COVID cases are diagnosed daily. There are an average of 5,619 new COVID-related hospital admissions and 306 COVID-related deaths.  

“To confront BA.5, the administration will continue mobilizing the full strength and capabilities of the federal government and working with state and local leaders, healthcare workers, the private sector, and community- and faith-based organizations to ensure that the American people have easy and convenient access to and use vaccines, tests, and treatments,” stated the Biden Administration in their recent announcement. 

The administration has multiple goals to help manage the spread of BA.5. The first of these goals is widening vaccine, treatment, and education accessibility for providers and patients.  

Furthermore, they plan to provide additional free COVID testing, including PCR and home tests. The administration advises, “in the face of BA.5, the administration is encouraging Americans to use at-home tests before attending large, indoor gatherings, traveling, or visiting indoors with immunocompromised individuals.” 

Other initiatives include improving mask accessibility, prioritizing immunocompromised patients, improving indoor ventilation, and updating the public on COVID-related information.  

Regardless of the national steps being taken to mitigate the risks that BA.5 brings, many healthcare organizations, including the University of California Davis Health, advise that individuals take personal steps to protect themselves by staying up to date with vaccinations, wearing masks, and seeking help from healthcare professionals when necessary.  

They caution that the disease’s risks are not constrained to the period of illness. Infection and reinfection also heighten the risk of developing long-COVID and its many complications.