New BA.2.86 COVID Variant Detected in NYC Wastewater

by Mindy Cohn

The City Health Department noted that the new coronavirus variant BA.2.86 can now be found in New York City wastewater, demonstrating its spread in communities despite no confirmed cases yet.

"This variant will also likely have an advantage in reinfecting people who got COVID-19 earlier this year," Paul Bieniasz, a virologist at Rockefeller University says, according to Gothamist.  

Bieniasz also thinks it's unlikely that there will be another sizable surge in cases as opposed to the first omicron wave.