COVID: Omicron variants BQ.1, BQ.1.1 account for over 70% of new cases

Yahoo Finance health care reporter Anjalee Khemlani shares the latest coronavirus update, detailing the newest omicron variants at large.

Video Transcript

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SEANA SMITH: All right, COVID cases are on the rise. And new data from the CDC revealing the Omicron subvariants are now responsible for more than 70% of new infections in the US. Yahoo Finance's Anjalee Khemlani joins us now with the details. And, Anj, what are the numbers looking like?

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Well, 70% of the BQ.1, BQ.1.1, that's really what we're looking at. And those are the Omicron subvariants that are supposed to be immune-evasive to a degree. Now, it's important to remember that the vaccines do still work to protect against severe disease and death. But this does increase the risk for those who are vulnerable, those who are over 65, and, you know, anyone who has any kind of potential to contract this disease and have a severe case of it. So that is where some pressure is building on hospitals.

We also know that the-- New York, for example, just increased their alert status and is now recommending mask indoors. Not a mandate, but it is a suggestion. We know that LA is weighing mask mandates. And the CDC has reinforced their recommendation for mask mandates recently as-- for masking, rather, indoors as a result of this rise in cases. And also important to point out that hospitals are under pressure right now as a result of this, plus RSV, plus flu.

We know that that's what's been pressuring the system. And that's important to point out, especially because we know how much this is impacting the pediatric population, right? Kids are not finding beds when they get really sick because some of those beds had been moved into the adult population, and so they're sort of missing. And there's this whole ongoing hospital structuring system in play.

DAVAE BRIGGS: Know a lot about that. In Hartford and my neck of the woods.