Experts are also calling BA.2 a "stealth omicron," as there's a key difference in its genetic sequence that makes it harder to track.
The CDC is urging expecting moms to get the COVID vaccine as hospitals are seeing disturbing numbers of unvaccinated pregnant women seriously ill.
One of the largest not-for-profit health systems in southeast Texas was forced to close three of its emergency rooms in the Houston area "due to the continued COVID-19 surge."
The U.S. is worried that the East Side of Manhattan meeting could turn into a super spreader event.
According to the CDC, variants of concern can be more contagious, more dangerous, less susceptible to available treatments or harder to detect.
"He was like, 'I cannot breathe, I cannot take a breath,'" his mother described. "He couldn't raise his arms over his head and take a breath."
