
Originally Posted by
DarkTZeratul
BA.2 isn't a whole new variant, though, like with Omicron vs. Delta. It's basically just a slightly different version of Omicron (officially, it's a subvariant), and one we've been aware of pretty much since Omicron became a thing (the most common Omicron subvariant is BA.1, and BA.3 is also known to exist). It's not something to be ignored, to be sure, especially as it appears to be more transmissible, but saying "if it gets loose the death toll will be staggering" is ridiculous.