Experts are raising red flags about two new COVID-19 variants that landed in New Jersey and New York City this fall and that are so highly contagious, they could drive a new surge in COVID-19 cases. BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 are both mutations of the familiar BA.5 strain, said epidemiologist Stephanie Silvera of Montclair State University. “Right now, about one in every ten across the country is one of the BQ variants. And New York and New Jersey are currently the hardest-hit. We tend to get these first, because we follow the pattern from Europe,” Silvera said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, BA.5 still dominates in the New York/New Jersey region, accounting for about half of new cases. But just this month, the BQ variants combined have gone from 10.8% of probable COVID-19 infections to 38%.
