You can add a couple of new subvariants to Minnesota's COVID activity....
Health officials say the BA.4 and BA.5 strains first identified in highly-immunized South Africa have popped up in Greater Minnesota. University of Minnesota Infectious Disease Researcher Dr. Michael Osterholm says it's not yet clear if they're capable of causing serious illness.
Overall, Osterholm says the "state of COVID" in Minnesota is o-k right now.
"I think the good news in Minnesota right now is there's been lots of transmission, but milder illnesses, less hospitalizations and many fewer deaths," Osterholm told WCCO's Chad Hartman.
But, Osterholm says that could all change tomorrow with a new variant.
"Remember we have named these after Greek letters. Right now we're sitting here with Omicron. But what's "Pi," what's "Sigma" going to be?"
Osterholm says people who are still unvaccinated are taking unnecessary risks.
"I see them every week. I see cases with people saying, 'Look, I went for two and a half years and I didn't get infected and I did not get vaccinated.' Only to have them dead next week. That's the challenge we have. So I just keep coming back to the data. This isn't a political statement. This isn't a personal, "gotcha" kind of statement. The data are the data."