COVID-19’s BA.5 Variant is Driving up Cases and Reinfections

Increasingly, more people appear to be contracting COVID-19 multiple times in relatively quick succession, as another omicron subvariant sweeps through the U.S. The BA.5 variant is now the most dominant strain of COVID-19 in the country, according to the CDC. And while it's hard to get an exact count — given how many people are taking rapid tests at home — there are indications that both reinfections and hospitalizations are increasing. Experts say BA.5 is highly transmissible and manages to at least partially sidestep some of the immunity people may have from prior infections and vaccinations. From NPR, here's what some public health experts make of the latest surge.