Why the Omicron offshoot BA.5 is a big deal Once again, Covid-19 seems to be everywhere. If you feel caught off-guard, you aren't alone. Brenda Goodman, CNN CNN

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Should you wait for an Omicron vaccine—or get your next booster now? With Omicron subvariant BA.5 on the rise, many Americans are debating how best to protect themselves. Here's what experts say. Fortune

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Explainer: What is the COVID BA.5 variant and why is it reinfecting so many people? BA.5, part of the Omicron family, is the latest coronavirus variant to cause widespread waves of infection globally. Jennifer Rigby,Julie Steenhuysen Reuters

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Covid reinfections are here to stay as BA.5 cases rise How many times can I get Covid? Are Covid reinfections worse? What is the reinfection rate for the new Covid variant? YahooNews

In 2020, Covid reinfections were considered rare.

US regulators OK new COVID-19 shot option from Novavax The U.S. is getting another COVID-19 vaccine choice as the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday cleared Novavax shots for adults. AP NEWS

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Novavax makes a more traditional type of shot than the three other COVID-19 vaccines available for use in the U.S. -- and one that’s already available in Europe and multiple other countries.

Factbox: Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus Anxiety levels rose along with temperatures in Shanghai on Wednesday, as medical workers sweated beneath their hazmat suits while administering compulsory mass testing for COVID-19 in a city that recently emerged from a painful two-month lockdown. Reuters Reuters

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N.H. is looking for more communities to help track COVID through wastewater

The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services is looking for more wastewater treatment plants to participate in a COVID data tracking project.

People infected with COVID can shed the virus in their feces. That means even if someone doesn't have symptoms, the virus can be detected in the wastewater — allowing public health officials to monitor its spread even when traditional testing is less reliable.

While wastewater data doesn’t show how many people in a given community have the virus, it illustrates changes in levels of COVID-19.

So far, 12 wastewater plants are participating in the state's tracking program. They include more densely populated areas like Manchester, and more rural areas of the state.

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Covid hospitalizations double since May, driven by BA.5 The highly contagious omicron subvariant now accounts for more than half of new infections in the U.S. NBC News

Hospitals across the country are bracing for another surge in Covid-19 patients as the highly contagious omicron subvariant BA.5 sweeps the nation. 

“Statewide, we’re definitely seeing an increase,” said Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, director of the infectious diseases division at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. 

BA.5 variant’s spread sparks concerns about contagiousness, hospitalizations Concerns are rising over a new omicron subvariant that is even more highly transmissible, called BA.5.  The new subvariant has risen to be a majority of COVID-19 cases in the United States and… vmorris The Hill

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BA.5 causes concern because of its increased contagiousness and because of its greater ability to evade the protection from vaccines and prior infection.   

Adapted, two-strain vaccines to lift COVID protection - EU official Adapted versions of established mRNA COVID-19 vaccines that address two variants in one shot will soon offer people better protection than vaccines that are now available, a European health official said on Wednesday. Reuters Reuters

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Experts say it's 'meaningless' to compare case counts, positivity rates from the current COVID-19 wave driven by the Omicron BA.5 subvariant to earlier spikes The widespread use of rapid at-home COVID-19 testing has skewed data counts of the latest Omicron BA.5 subvariant wave, experts told Insider. YahooNews

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