As the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 continues to sweep through Europe and moves into the Middle East and Latin America, a new variant of Omicron, known as BA.2, is running up case counts in several nations. Denmark has been particularly hard hit with BA.2, which now accounts for over half of all infections in the country. In the United States, hospitalizations remain at high levels even as COVID-19 cases are declining in many of the communities that were hardest-hit by the virus earlier in the pandemic, allowing the San Francisco Bay Area, for example, to relax certain mandates.
Where is this pandemic taking us next?