DENVER (KDVR) — A new COVID variant is quickly becoming dominant across the world and here in the United States, causing surges in some communities that saw relief after the omicron surge.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment uses wastewater systems to help detect and identify community spread of any new variant across the state.
The BA.2 variant of COVID-19, also known as “stealth omicron,” has become the dominant variant of the coronavirus around the world, the World Health Organization said Wednesday. The omicron subvariant now accounts for 75% of coronavirus cases globally.
Last week, the City of Denver said stealth omicron has been detected in both wastewater and human specimens. The Denver Department of Public Health and Environment said they are not concerned about a surge in cases that we saw with previous COVID-19 variants.
According to CDPHE data, 16 of the 39 total testing sights detected BA.2 presence in its wastewater on March 10, the most recent date for sample collection.
While some communities did not show a presence of BA.2 on March 10, they may have detected it earlier in the year. CDPHE does take note of the first date that a variant was detected.
The following communities found BA.2 present on March 10:
- Boulder
- Broomfield
- Longmont
- Louisville
- Greeley, Town of Garden City
- Pueblo
- Nothern Colorado Springs
- Colorado Springs
- Central Fort Collins
- Southern Fort Collins
- Aurora
- Littleton, Lone Tree and Englewood
- Berthoud
- Telluride
- Frisco
- Vail
There are additional communities that have found the BA.2 variant in wastewater, but it was not present during the survey of samples on March 10 or no samples were taken on that date.
- Northern Fort Collins and Laporte
- Arvada
- Westminster
- Thornton
- Lakewood
- Denver
- Aspen
- Durango
- Loveland
- Silverthorne
- Dillon
- Wellington
- Breckenridge
- Estes Park
Ouray had a low coverage sample for the collection on March 10 and didn’t have conclusive data.
