New COVID variant BA.2.86 is now in 5 states. Here's what to know
More health officials across the U.S. are reporting new cases of the COVID variant BA.2.86. On Thursday, a genome sequencing team at Houston Methodist Hospital said it had identified the first case in Texas, a member of team wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. On the same day, Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff confirmed that one case has been detected in his state.