Two new omicron subvariants that health officials say are contributing to a COVID uptick in New York State have been identified in Houston, according to researchers at Houston Methodist.
Local case numbers, however, are sitting at their lowest point in nearly a year, according to the Harris County Public Health COVID dashboard, which reports an average of 20 new cases per 100,000 people over the last seven days. That number was as high as 1,256 in mid-January, during the height of the omicron surge.
It’s a different story in New York, which has seen a 70 percent increase in new cases over the two weeks, from a daily average of 3,231 on March 13 to 5,467 on Thursday, according to the New York Times virus tracker. In a news release, the New York State Department of Health said the new subvariants are estimated to have a “23% to 27% growth advantage” compared to the BA.2 variant and already make up the majority of cases in central parts of the state.Houston wastewater surveillance data show an increasing viral load at a growing number of the city’s treatment plants as of April 4, when the latest analyzed samples were collected.
The city’s wastewater dashboard shows 14 out of 39 total wastewater treatment plants experiencing an increase from the week before, compared to eight on March 28. Another omicron subvariant making headlines, known as omicron XE — a combination of BA.2 and the original strain of omicron — so far has not been detected by Houston Methodist sequencing efforts, according to Dr. Wesley Long, a clinical pathologist and medical director of diagnostic microbiology at the hospital.
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