LOUISVILLE, Ky. — While the state of emergency related to the coronavirus is over for Kentucky, COVID-19 is still out there.
In fact, Governor Beshear said there's a new version Thursday. The omicron BA.2 subvariant has been confirmed in 29 Kentucky residents from 13 different counties since the first week of February, he said.
Health officials know this from limited molecular testing, so it could be more widespread than that. We also know it's been detected in Louisville wastewater more than once since the end of January.
BA.2 appears to be on its way to dominating US COVID infections. Last week the CDC reported that the subvariant accounted for 35% of reported cases.
"I think many people are concerned, as am I, that there will be a spike? What that spike looks like may be somewhat different," said Dr. Joseph M. Flynn with Norton Healthcare.
Flynn said BA.2 is more infectious, so people are more apt to get it. However, Dr. Anthony Fauci said the subvariant doesn't seem to pose any more of a threat than the omicron variant.
"It's a very interesting situation where the cases are going up, but it does not, at this point in time appear to be any degree of severity," said Dr. Fauci.
Dr. Flynn said those who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will still be protected against BA.2.
Another name starting to appear more frequently is deltacron. This new strain of COVID-19 is described as a combination of both delta and omicron variants.
However, Dr. Flynn said this strain is not yet something to be concerned about.
"I don't know that this is going to necessarily become selected out to be something we're going to have to deal with. There was a lot of talk early on, and even within the last weeks, if it was just a lab error," said Dr. Flynn.
For those who do get infected and experience severe symptoms from one of these new strains or variants, Dr. Flynn said there are new treatments being developed, too.
"For those that get infected, taking those medicines can decrease your risk of severe disease, specifically hospitalization and death," he said.
He highlighted two COVID pills, Paxlovid and Malnupiravir, as possible treatments. He said these are especially useful for those who may be immunocompromised or even for elderly populations.
In addition to these oral treatments, Dr. Flynn also said monoclonal antibody treatments should also be considered.
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