COLUMBUS, Ohio — One case of the new COVID-19 variant, BA.2.86, has been confirmed in Ohio, according to the Ohio Department of Health Director Bruce Vanderhoff.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers the new variant to be particularly notable because it contains several mutations that make it distinct from other lineages currently circulating. The confirmed case in Ohio was detected in Lorain County.
There have been at least 23 other human cases caused by the BA.2.86 variant. Two of those other cases were detected in the United States, one in Michigan and the other in Virginia. Canada had one case, Denmark (10), Israel (1), Portugal (2), the United Kingdom (1), Sweden (4) and South Africa (2).
Jesse Bloom, an evolutionary biologist at Fred Hutch Cancer Center, told NBC’s Aria Bendix, “We have not seen a new variant [in humans] with this many new spike mutations happening all at once since the emergence of the original Omicron.”
Scientists won’t know how transferable this variant is or if it’s capable of causing widespread infection for a few weeks.
Vanderhoff said that there is no evidence that this variant is causing any more severe illness, hospitalizations or deaths.
Current vaccines don’t target newer strains, and researchers are scrambling to formulate vaccines that will be effective against new COVID mutations if it turns out these variants can spread worldwide. Updated booster shots are coming in the next few months, but these may or may not be effective against newer strains.
According to CDC estimates, at least 99.9% of all current COVID-19 cases come from strains descended from the omicron variant, and more than 95% of all current COVID-19 cases come from strains descended from the XBB subvariant, which includes EG.5.
ODH encourages Ohioans to stay up to date on their COVID vaccinations and to stay home if they feel sick.
According to the COVID dashboard, Ohio has seen a 2,460 increase in cases since last week for a total of 7,821 confirmed cases. There was also an increase in hospitalizations. Last week, there were 111 hospitalized with COVID and this week there are 171.