BECKLEY, WV (WVNS) – A new Covid strain is invading the public and possibly your household.

BA.2.86 is rapidly growing and mutating to avoid current vaccination immunities.

Center for Disease Control experts told 59News that symptoms are nearly identical to those suffering from the previous omicron strain.

Hospitalizations have begun to rise however, with more cases being reported across the U.S.
An infectious disease specialist tells us the measure you can take to protect your loved ones.

“New vaccines for the new strain are being developed so they’ll be out, so it’s important for people to pay attention to how common Covid is, if they are in the age division, and then they need to make their decisions based on that.”

According to the CDC, current vaccines still have some efficacy against the new strain. A new version of the formula will soon be rolled out across the United States in September.