COVID cases are slowly rising again on the local, state and national levels, with many experts saying the BA.2 variant is a major factor. (Yuxin Liu/B&W Staff)

BA.2 COVID variant points to higher cases

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COVID-19 cases are rising again on the local, state and national levels, with many experts pointing to the BA.2 variant as a cause. According to an Associated Press article, 90 percent of COVID-19 cases in the Northeast are due to this highly transmissible variant.

Many medical experts are saying this surge will not be as intense as previous variants and will occur gradually across the country.  

As of Monday, The New York Times COVID-19 tracker reports cases to be up 100 percent across Pennsylvania — with 1,192 cases as the daily average — and up 105 percent in Northampton County – with 42 cases as the daily average. 

The Lehigh COVID Dashboard reports nine cases among students and three among faculty and staff, as of April 20. This comes after a small spike, reported on April 4, accumulating 31 total cases among students.

Of the 67 counties that constitute Pennsylvania, Northampton County is one of 18 county “hotspots” in the NYT tracker that have 20-60 cases per 100,000 people. All other 49 counties have lower ratios as of Monday, April 18.   

In the Lehigh Valley hospitalizations and deaths remain low, and vaccination rates in Northampton County match the Pennsylvania state rates.

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1 Comment

  1. 99% vaccination rate here at the school and extremely low risk..let’s not give the CRT another go at taking away our college experience again.

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