and that is essentially similar to omicron which everybody s heard about. it s about 20% of cases here in the united states. thankfully, even though there are some mutations in it, it is still similar enough that tests are able to detect it, and and our immunity still probably protects against the most severe illness. now, what you see people like scientists and public health officials are really looking at right now is the ba-26 variant. now, that is a highly mutated variant different from omicron. the profile suggests that our tests are still going to be able to capture it, and it is likely that the upcoming fall booster shot may still offer some protection, but the truth is we don t exactly know. aishah: so really quickly because we re coming up on this break here, nicole, is so these colleges like the one in atlanta that are going way back to those 2020 mandates, practically back to when covid first started, not only mask mandates, but also temperature checks, social distancing, co
covid resurgence? a lot of folks are talking about it, we don t really know what s coming. we know some hospitalizations are up but not as much as last year. what s going on? always great to be with you, aishah. first of all, you know, everyone remembers every single end of summer since we started in 2020 we ve always had a resurgence of cases towards the end of summer, beginning of school year. that s happening right now so, yes, you re seeing covid cases on the rise. good muse is hospitalizations are about 20-25% now what they were last year. so hospitalizations are still down, but you re going to see an uptick in hospitalizations because the more people who test positive, you re going to have some hospitalizations. it s just the ebb and flow of this. it s going to be, you know, cold covid and flu season, so we re going to have a lot of respiratory viruses, and every winter/fall, you re going to see a rise in cases. what people are talking about right now, you mentioned it, the var