‘It should have been given a new Greek letter’: New coronavirus variant surges

The coronavirus summer wave has some medical experts worried the winter wave will be worse. The new iteration goes by BA.5, appearing to be an offshoot of the omicron variant. But Andrew Noymer, a University of California, Irvine [associate] professor of population health and disease, said that’s the wrong way of looking at it. “The differences are great,” he said. “Having a previous omicron infection doesn’t protect you against BA.5. People need to be aware this is really a new game. People can get it if they got it a few months ago. It’s really new, and not a shade of omicron. It should have been given a new Greek letter.”