New Covid variant has been identified and is already spreading in 25 states

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Independent

Tuesday 24 March 2026 13:31 EDT


A new Covid variant is spreading across the U.S. and it may be able to evade protection from current vaccines.

The variant, known as BA.3.2, has been detected in nasal swabs taken from four American travelers and clinical samples from five patients in four unidentified states. It’s also been found in three airplane wastewater samples and 132 wastewater samples taken in more than 20 states, suggesting that its reach is actually far more widespread than what scientists see right now.

Descended from omicron, BA.3.2 was first detected in South Africa in 2024 and in the U.S. in June 2025 in a traveler from the Netherlands. The variant began really surging in September 2025 and has since been reported in 23 countries.

Its evolution was similar to the variant BA.2.86, which emerged in 2024 and later evolved into JN.1: the dominant Covid variant in 2024.But the new strain is “genetically distinct from the JN.1 lineages that have circulated in the United States since January 2024,” researchers warned in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Read more: https://www.the-independent.com/news/health/covid-variant-us-travelers-wastewater-b2944619.html

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Link to CDC MMWR - Early Detection and Surveillance of the SARS-CoV-2 Variant BA.3.2 — Worldwide, November 2024–February 2026

[tanyev]

1. Great, and our busiest airports are jam-packed with people waiting in line for hours.

[EarthFirst]

2. Never fear my friends...

There’s a $20 billon dollar moon station in the works…

We’re in very capable hands!

[sheshe2]

9. Add RFK Jr to that and...

Whoopee a lot of us are gonna die.

[erronis]

12. And rfkjr will be able to dissect us for his morbid interests.

Cutting off whale head and transporting on top of car on a family vacation.
Doing something with a dead bear and then leaving it in Central Park.
Removing a dead raccoon's penis for "study"?


I feel so sorry for the rest of the related Kennedy family.

[sheshe2]

14. Probably.

Yikes, I missed that raccoon 'study'.

[rubbersole]

15. Tastes like chicken 🐔.

[sheshe2]

17. Eeeeeeew!

[The Madcap]

21. But not as good as roadside armadillo.

That comes in its own bowl.

[Dan]

23. Nothing beats a Montana and Wyoming

Rabbit road kill

[BumRushDaShow]

25. 'Round here in Philly and the 'burbs

the vultures get that stuff quick, fast, and in a hurry and all that is left are the deer because they can't finish that before someone moves it out of the road.

[Fiendish Thingy]

3. If it is similar to the previous variant, it's likely not a big deal

At least not for folks who have kept up with their booster shots.

[2naSalit]

5. Article says...

The previous vaccines may not protect against it.

[Fiendish Thingy]

7. Well, if it shares some genetic code with the previous one, it would

I guess we’ll find out. In any case, they wouldn’t have a vaccine specific to this variant until fall at the earliest.

[2naSalit]

8. Indeed.

Since I've recently relocated, I missed the last booster. I've been pretty careful and not had anything really awful, though I did pick up a sinus thing last December after a shopping adventure. I still wear a mask when I feel the need.

I did get my flu shot but not the newest covid vaccine. I'll just keep up my hermit mode a bit lounger.

[calimary]

13. Yeah, we got our shots, but we're still staying home.

[elduge]

10. maybe, but...

I got covid a few weeks ago. it was my second time getting it. this version I just had was definitely worse than my first case of it. very exhausted for a few days. the congestion came and went fairly quickly, but it certainly laid me up for most of a week. of course, I have no idea if it is the strain mentioned in this article. but I spend a lot of time working in the midst of crowds, and hadn't gotten sick for several years. so I was surprised when I got it and how much it affected me. I was wondering if I got a new strain, and am thinking after reading the above that maybe it was the new version.

[Farmer-Rick]

31. I got COVID for the first time

Last June. I felt horrible. It settled in my liver and now I have diabetes and fibrosis of the liver.

Now diabetes runs in my family, so I may have been headed there eventually. But It's weird that 2 months after having COVID my glucose tests and liver enzymes were abnormal when they were perfectly normal last year at my last physical.

There is evidence that COVID attacks your liver. But pedo Trump and RFKJR with all their medical education and wisdom, have stopped all public funding into studying the damage caused by COVID.

[nilram]

24. (comment 1 removed)

(comment 2 removed)

Lab studies showed that the new BA.3.2 strain evades the body’s protective antibodies activated by Covid vaccines “likely because of spike protein mutations,” highlighting the need for more data on the effectiveness of the shots.

“The 2025–2026 LP.8.1-adapted mRNA Covid-19 vaccine demonstrates protection against currently predominant JN.1 strains but had the lowest antibody neutralization against BA.3.2 in a laboratory study of seven variants, potentially affecting vaccine-conferred protection,” the researchers said.

[Vinca]

4. File under "What the Hell Else Can Go Wrong."

[IronLionZion]

6. Antivax conservatives have another chance to own the vaccinated libs

they can achieve "natural immunity" through infection.

[Attilatheblond]

11. or death

[Captain Zero]

26. If rump gets out and about, just sayin'

His immunity can't be good at his age and with his diet.

And flying often can't be good for him and his cankles.

[progressoid]

16. The new food pyramid will fix this right?

[The Madcap]

22. Now it's a food funnel.

[aggiesal]

18. Greeeeat!!! Mierda45 was importing South Africaners last year n/t

[surfered]

19. I'm actually surprised the CDC is still functioning at all.

[Tom Dyer]

20. It's being monitored

and sensible steps are being taken to contain ha ha ha ha ha.
What a mess.
I have somehow managed to avoid COVID, and moved outside of The United States to ensure that this continues to be the case.

[regnaD kciN]

27. A reminder...wear your masks at No Kings 3!

[Warpy]

28. I'll wait for an article with fewer weasel words

and more solid information before I press the panic button, thanks.

[Aussie105]

29. Natural immunity?

Natural selection and evolution work on both viruses and humans.

A virus that kills its host quick has little chance of being passed on, but weaker strains where sick people will just 'carry on' and spread it around, do much better.

Conversely, very young children, the immuno-compromised and elderly might die from a weaker strain, but that is a small price to pay, right?
Culling of the herd, and all that. /s

Get vaccinated folks!
Not just for this one, but for all the viruses lurking out there.
It's a war zone - just on a very small scale.

[Hassler]

30. No worries. Brainworm Bobby is working

On a raw meat salve.