A highly mutated COVID strain has arrived in Mass. wastewater
boston.com • • health
Key Points:
- The BA.3.2 COVID-19 variant, nicknamed the “cicada” variant due to its long dormancy, was first detected in South Africa in November 2024 and has since spread to 23 countries, including detection in Massachusetts via wastewater samples.
- BA.3.2 is heavily mutated and appears to evade antibodies from the 2025-2026 COVID-19 vaccines, which target the dominant JN.1 strains, raising concerns about vaccine effectiveness against this variant.
- Experts caution that while BA.3.2 could potentially become the dominant U.S. strain and possibly cause a summer surge, more data is needed, and it has not yet caused increased hospitalizations or deaths.
- The World Health Organization states that current vaccines are expected to continue protecting against severe disease from BA.3.2, which poses a low additional public health risk compared to other Omicron lineages.
- Unlike some previous variants, BA.3.2 has not rapidly overtaken other strains or appeared prominently on the CDC’s variant tracker, suggesting it lacks a significant transmission advantage but remains under observation.
