New ‘Centaurus’ COVID Subvariant Detected in Florida

Though state COVID case numbers are generally on a downswing, reports of a new subvariant of the coronavirus being present in Florida has experts concerned. The BA.2.75 subvariant, also known as ‘centaurus’, has been confirmed to exist in some metro areas statewide. The centaurus subvariant is under the umbrella of the Omicron variant, which has accounted for the lion’s share of new COVID cases over the summer in Florida. Other subvariants, namely the BA.4 and BA.5, ran particularly rampant over the state this past summer. Immunologists are still working to determine how contagious the centaurus subvariant may be. Though widespread vaccine availability has helped lower the national caseload, Florida remains one of the states with the highest concentrations of new cases in the country. New vaccine booster shots  designed to specifically target Omicron subvariants are becoming available to the public, with previous shots created for the Wuhan strain having limited effects against new mutations. Six Floridians registered a positive test for centaurus in a period between August 14th and 30th, according to LabCorp and Helix Laboratories. The full numbers for the subvariant are not yet known.