The World Health Organization (WHO) is closely tracking a new version of the omicron variant.

It is known as BA. 2.

Scientists are referring to the original omicron variant as BA. 1.

It should be noted that BA. 2 is not a new variant, but rather a descendant of omicron.

The new version has been detected in India, Denmark, Britain, the United States, and other countries.

It appears to be most widespread in Denmark and has become the dominant form of the virus there.

There are a handful of confirmed cases in the U.S., including in Texas and Washington state.

Houston Methodist Hospital in Texas is studying the genetic makeup of virus samples from patients.

Some doctors are dubbing BA. 2 as “stealth omicron” because it is difficult to identify on PCR tests.

The WHO has directed officials to investigate BA. 2’s characteristics and whether it is as contagious as the original variant.

There is no evidence currently that shows that BA. 2 is more contagious or more severe.

British virologist Tom Peacock of the Imperial Department of Infectious Disease tweeted that data suggests current vaccines will be effective against BA. 2.

COVINGTON, Ky. — For many in the Tri-State, it was another day, another scramble to find COVID-19 tests.

The rush comes following the latest COVID-19 numbers that shows the highest number of COVID-related hospitalizations since the pandemic began.

At the largest testing site in Northern Kentucky, Gravity Diagnostic's drive-thru opened at 6 a.m. Staff said they expect to be packed all day Saturday.

The site was closed Friday because of the Level One snow emergency. People still lined up before going to work, before realizing the site was closed because of the weather.

Since the site was closed, staff said it created a backlog of people needing tests.

In addition to its Covington test site, the company is opening its Florence Mall testing site Saturday from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m.

There was other options for people if they were looking for vaccines or tests. The Nepali Language and Arts Center worked with the Colerain Fire Department and offered free COVID-19 vaccines, boosters and tests Saturday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Walk-ins were welcomed and no appointments were needed.

In addition to the high demand Gravity Diagnostic has seen, at-home tests still prove difficult to find.

Just this week, Hamilton County Commissioner Greg Keserman urged people to hold off on using what at-home tests they have until they are really sick or wait until a few days after a true exposure.

The Ohio Department of Health is expected to distribute one million at-home tests this month to local health departments, but those are not out yet.

Hospital leaders say the strain is adding to local hospitals that are already over capacity.

"Yesterday, more than 6,500 people were hospitalized in Ohio as an inpatient with Covid-19 and more than 1,300 were in the ICU. One in three patients who are hospitalized in Ohio or in an ICU are COVID positive, that's one in three. And sadly as I noted, the vast majority of these patients are unvaccinated," said Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, director of Ohio Department of Health.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced this week that the national guard would be opening at testing facility in Cincinnati to ease the burden on local hospitals.

Similar setups were opened in Cleveland, Akron and Columbus, but there is no word yet on when or where the Cincinnati site will be.

Hospital leaders hope to start seeing the relief next week.

In less than a month, the omicron variant of COVID-19 has gone from being first detected in the US to the dominant variant circulating.

According to the most recent CDC data released on Christmas, omicron accounted for 58.6% of all positive COVID-19 cases nationwide.

“This current virus- the omicron variant- has about 50 mutations; more than 30 in the spike protein domain, which is more mutations than we’ve seen in any of the coronavirus variants so far,” said Dr. Phil Stahel, Chief Medical Officer at the Medical Center of Aurora in Colorado.

For comparison, delta had around 13 mutations. Dr. Stahel says the vast number of mutations in omicron means our body’s antibodies have a more difficult time recognizing COVID as COVID.

It is the main reason why researchers say omicron is 20x more transmissible than the original strain of COVID-19 and 2.5 times as transmissible as delta, even if you are vaccinated.

“Omicron has mutated so much that it has less affinity in terms of the antibodies from the vaccine recognizing it, so, therefore, the answer is the booster shot, because you will overwhelm the virus with the quantity of the immune response even if there is not a perfect match,” said Dr. Stahel.

A study out of Denmark shows people with the booster were 56% less likely to become infected by omicron if a member in their household had it compared to people who only had two doses of the vaccine.

Go deeper, however, the vaccine does appear to do a great job of preventing serious infection. Researchers in South Africa found that even though omicron’s mutations allow it to circumvent the vaccine’s antibodies easily, it does a poor job at escaping T-cells, our body’s second line of defense that prevents serious infection.

The kicker though: that only applies to people who have been infected in the last three months or are vaccinated.

“We may still get the virus. We may still get sick. We may be miserable for a few days, but it is no longer a catastrophe. We will not be admitted to hospitals, and we will not die from SARS-COVID-2,” said Dr. Stahel.

Moving forward, Dr. Stahel says COVID will become more of a common cold, but that will only happen until we reach herd immunity.

Until then, he and other researchers say omicron poses more of a significant risk of serious health issues and death in those who are unvaccinated compared to those who are.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the U.S. set another daily record for new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday with nearly 490,000.

The CDC's COVID Data Tracker reports that the U.S. recorded 486,428 cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, besting the previous daily record set on Monday.

The CDC says the U.S. has recorded at least 400,000 new cases of COVID-19 every day since Monday.

For the last seven days, the U.S. has averaged more than 316,000 new cases a day, the highest recorded level since the start of the pandemic.

The actual number of people who contracted COVID-19 in the U.S. is likely higher because not everyone who contracts the virus will seek out a test or report an at-home positive test.

The surge in cases comes as the highly contagious omicron variant of COVID-19 spreads rapidly throughout the country. Earlier this week, health officials said that while the newly-discovered strain is highly infectious, all signs point to it causing less severe disease than past strains.

The increase in new cases has not yet led to a rise in deaths, which slightly decreased in the past week. The CDC adds that there was only a slight increase in new hospitalizations from COVID-19 in the past week.

Surges in hospitalizations and deaths typically lag behind surges in new cases. While White House medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci expects both to rise in the weeks ahead, the nature of omicron may cause a less severe spike.

"That pattern in the disparity between cases and hospitalizations strongly suggests that there will be a lower hospitalization-to-case ratio when the situation becomes more clear," Fauci said Wednesday.

Fauci also warned that Americans must stay vigilant, as the highly transmissible nature of omicron could cause health care systems in some areas to be overwhelmed, particularly in areas where vaccination rates are low.

White House medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday that more and more data indicate that the omicron variant of COVID-19 may not cause as many severe infections as past strains. However, he warned hospital systems in some parts of the country could still get overrun because the strain spreads so quickly.

During Wednesday's briefing by the White House COVID-19 response team, Fauci shared with reporters data recorded by South Africa and the United Kingdom, both of which showed that omicron resulted in a smaller percentage of severe COVID-19 infections.

He also noted that recent data shows that the U.S. case rate is climbing much higher than the current hospitalization rates.

"The spike in cases is out of proportion to the increase in hospitalization. So if one looks at 14-day averages, the data, as of last night, indicate a plus-126% increase in cases and an 11% increase in hospitalizations," Fauci said. "We must remember that hospitalizations and deaths are lagging indicators. However, that pattern in the disparity between cases and hospitalizations strongly suggests that there will be a lower hospitalization-to-case ratio when the situation becomes more clear."

On Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that the U.S. smashed the all-time recorded for daily COVID-19 cases, with nearly 450,000. However, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky noted Wednesday that hospitalizations and deaths have remained fairly steady in the past seven days.

"All indications point to having a less severity of omicron versus delta," Fauci said.

However, Fauci warned that because omicron is so transmissible, it could still lead to hospitals becoming overwhelmed in the weeks ahead.

"Increased transmissibility of omicron resulting in an extremely high volume of cases may override some of the impact of the lower disease severity," Fauci said. "And so we should not become complacent, since our hospital system could still be stressed in certain areas of the country."

Fauci added that the U.S.'s best protection against omicron is vaccines, as "the risk of severe disease in any circulating variant, including omicron, is much, much higher for the unvaccinated." He and other top health officials recommend everyone in the U.S. get vaccinated and a booster shot when they are eligible to get one.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday revoked the travel restrictions on several African countries which he instituted in late November in the days after the discovery of the omicron variant strain of COVID-19.

In a proclamation published by the White House, Biden lifted the restrictions the prevented people from traveling to the United States from Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

In his proclamation, Biden noted that the travel restrictions were no longer necessary because health officials have assured him that people who are vaccinated have significant protection against severe omicron infection, because the variant is now widespread and because the U.S. still requires international travelers to present a negative test to enter the country.

"In light of these changed circumstances, and based on the recommendation of the CDC, I have determined that it is in the interests of the United States to revoke Proclamation 10315. The travel restrictions imposed by that proclamation are no longer necessary to protect the public health," Biden's statement read.

Officials in South Africa first detected the omicron variant at the end of November. Biden imposed travel restrictions to southern Africa on Nov. 26.

Just over a month later, omicron is now the dominant strain of COVID-19 in the U.S., accounting for more than 73% of cases. While daily COVID-19 cases have spiked in recent days, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have remained level at about 1,100 a day.