Is Deltacron making its way to the U.S?
CENTRAL COAST, Calif. (KION-TV) -- Covid cases are low in the U.S. but could the new BA.2 Deltacron variant change that?
This subvariant suggests that its a mix between the Delta and Omicron variants.
Santa Cruz hasn't detected Deltacron in its county but Monterey County has confirmed two cases.
“We have not seen the new variant here in Santa Cruz, but on the other hand there’s not a whole lot of testing going on right now because case counts are low. So ya'know, our ability to detect a new variant is probably a little bit limited," said Dr. David Ghilarducci, Santa Cruz County Deputy Health Officer.
According to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, Nearly half of European countries have recorded increases in cases in the past week.
China has also seen a flare up in cases and have forced 30 million people to go into lockdown.
Trends have shown that when outbreaks happen in other countries, it only takes a few weeks for the U.S. to follow in suit.
“We usually lag behind sources in Europe and East Coast, we’re closely monitoring with our public health officials what’s happening in Europe and some of the northeastern states," said Dr. Mahendra Poudel, Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System (SVMHS) Infectious Disease Director.
Being prepared is the key to staying ahead of another surge.
“We have to remain in a forward leaning stance and we have to be prepared for the next surge. It doesn’t mean we don’t start living our lives a little bit more normal. It just means we have to be ready," said Dr. Ghilarducci.
Different variants have popped up multiple times in the past two years, and some people wonder if our current vaccines can protect us from future strains.
“There’s a lot of differences now with these variants and so reformulated vaccines will probably be in the pipeline at some point soon," said Dr.Ghilarducci.
Health experts said that Covid antibodies begin to wane after roughly four or five months.
"Now there's another part of your immune system that's still pretty effective. It's called cellular immunity, and that doesn't really wane. That stays there," said Dr.Ghilarducci. "But in order to help prevent you from getting infected or having more severe illness, those antibodies are important."
As long is Covid is around, we shouldn't be surprised if more variants come after Deltacron.
“As a virus multiplies, it becomes mutated and there’s going to be variants throughout the lifecycle of the virus. This is obviously not the first variant and I don’t think will be the last," said Dr.Poudel.
But that doesn't mean every new variant is a cause to expect the worst.
“Lockdowns probably highly unlikely to happen, but we may see more cases in the community. There may be increase in number of hospitalizations, especially among unvaccinated and vulnerable populations.”
