Subvariants of the highly infectious omicron strain continue to comprise most of the COVID-19 infections in Allegheny County.
A Thursday report from the county health department discussed sequencing results of a limited number of tests from the week ending on April 23. It found BA.2 accounts for 70% of cases sampled and B.2.12.1 for 25%.
There’s always a bit of a lag in sequencing data, though it appears that these subvariants continue to drive up infections in the county.
According to the health department, there were 2,761 COVID-19 cases reported for the week ending May 11. That’s about 1,000 more than the previous week when it had seemed like the recent climb of infections was possibly slowing. These numbers suggest otherwise.
COVID-19 hospitalizations are also on the upswing, and last week four people died from the virus.
Wastewater update
The county did not provide updated wastewater information citing heavy rainfall that diluted possible samples.
Due to the rise of at-home tests, public health departments across the country are turning to monitoring raw sewage to track COVID-19 transmission in their communities. Doing so provides a comprehensive look at viral presence.
