New Covid-19 Variant BA.3.2 Is Spreading and May 'Evade Immunity,' CDC Warns

Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are tracking a new covid-19 variant with mutations to its spike protein, which, they report, “have the potential to reduce protection from a previous infection or vaccination.” Officials first detected BA.3.2, an Omicron descendant, in the United States last summer at San Francisco International Airport while conducting routine traveler-based genomic surveillance on a passenger arriving from the Netherlands. But starting this December, at least five cases of BA.3.2 have since been detected in hospital patients across four unidentified U.S. states, including a young child who received outpatient care. While all five patients survived, CDC officials are still monitoring the spread of BA.3.2—in no small measure because of the new lineage’s potential to “evade immunity.” Right now, BA.3.2 only accounts for a minute 0.55% of covid-19 cases among the 5,238 genetically sequenced cases reviewed by the CDC between December 1, 2025, and March 12, 2026. However, this novel spike protein variant has already cropped up in 132 wastewater surveillance samples from 25 far-flung states across the country—including California, New York, Wy