The “cicada” SARS-CoV-2 variant, which earned its nickname after staying relatively dormant following its discovery in 2024, has accounted for a small proportion of COVID-19 cases since the CDC began tracking the variant.
In the week ending April 11, the most recent CDC data available for SARS-CoV-2 variant proportions, the agency said the cicada variant BA.3.2 accounted for 4% of infections. BA.3.2 has been in the 3% to 4% range since the week ending Dec. 20.
The cicada variant may be more likely to infect children than adults, according to early research from South Africa, where the variant was first detected in a 5-year-old boy in November 2024. One children’s hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian Komansky Children’s Hospital, has reported a small increase in COVID-19 cases with the caveat that children are not being hospitalized with severe infections.
Several variants from other lineages are accounting for a growing proportion of cases, according to CDC data. These include the most dominant variant, XFG.1.1, as well as PQ.17 (9%) and XFG.6 (5%).
The CDC said low numbers of sequences were reported, so the agency did not publish projected estimates of variant proportions this week. The CDC also said precision is low for the most recent reporting period. This could mean the 4% figure for BA.3.2 could be either higher or lower.
The World Health Organization designated BA.3.2 as a “variant under monitoring” with a note that current vaccines “are expected to continue providing protection against severe diseases.”
“I think there is a very good chance BA.3.2 will become the dominant variant, but it certainly isn’t a sweeping variant like many we’ve seen before,” said Marc Johnson, PhD, professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the University of Missouri School of Medicine in Columbia, according to an April 2 CNN report. “I think if BA.3.2 were a mutation away from being a more aggressive variant, it would have found it by now.”
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