COVID-19 refuses to go away. Cases are once again on the rise in the United States following a precipitous fall from the Omicron variant spike in January.

The reason is two new subvariants, BA.2.12 and BA.2.12.1. The new subvariants are highly transmissible – 30% more so than the original Omicron variant – but appear to be less deadly than their predecessors, especially for vaccinated individuals.