Just the name is intriguing. It is customary for scientists to look to mythology, such as Cerberus or Kraken, or celestial imagery, such as Eris and Stratus, when tracking and naming new COVID variants. The rationale behind their choice of “Cicada” for BA.3.2 was both biological and somewhat poetic. Cicadas go underground for years, sometimes more than ten, before suddenly emerging, noisily and unmistakably.
Surprisingly, this variation accomplished the same thing. It vanished. Then it returned. And now it’s quietly spreading through 23 countries and appearing in wastewater samples from 25 US states, raising questions that the scientific community is addressing with a mix of measured calm and sincere curiosity.
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Variant Name | BA.3.2 |
| Nickname | “Cicada” |
| Virus Family | SARS-CoV-2 / Omicron lineage |
| First Detected | November 2024, South Africa (5-year-old patient) |
| First US Detection | Summer 2025 (traveler at San Francisco International Airport) |
| Countries Detected In | 23+ countries (as of Feb. 2026) |
| US States with Wastewater Detection | 25 states, including Pennsylvania |
| Number of Mutations | ~70+ vs. original 2019 coronavirus; 53 changes to spike protein vs. BA.3 |
| WHO Status | Variant Under Monitoring (designated December 2025) |
| Severity | No increased hospitalization or death reported |
| Children vs. Adults | Kids ~5x more likely to be infected (NYC data) |
| Vaccine Effectiveness | Current vaccines still offer meaningful protection |
| Notable in Germany | Accounted for ~30% of new COVID infections Nov–Jan; now declining |
| Official Reference | cdc.gov |
Even by the standards of a virus that has generated odd tales for the past five years, the origin story of BA.3.2 is truly bizarre. Genetic sequencing revealed five main branches of Omicron’s family tree when it first spread around the world in late 2021. Infection waves spread throughout the world as a result of four of those branches.
The fifth, known as BA.3, was discovered in 2022 before going virtually silent. It is now thought by scientists that it lived for about two years inside a single person whose immune system was weak enough to allow the virus to survive but not completely eradicate it. Long-term infections like that turn into a slow-motion arms race between the body and the virus, with ongoing genetic pressure forcing the virus to change and adapt. The outcome of all that internal development eventually reappeared in the outside world.
A nose swab taken from a five-year-old boy in South Africa in November 2024 revealed a version of BA.3 that looked very different from anything in the current record, something scientists had never seen before. Its spike protein alone—the portion of the virus that attaches itself to human cells to start an infection—had 53 changes in comparison to its parent strain. It has about 70 mutations compared to the original 2019 coronavirus.
Even by Omicron’s already chaotic standards, that number is startling, which is one of the reasons the World Health Organization decided to classify it as a variant under observation in December. By last summer, it had made its way to the United States, where it was found in a respiratory sample taken from a passenger who had just arrived from the Netherlands at San Francisco International Airport. The first clinical sample from a sick American patient was obtained in January 2026, confirming that it was no longer merely passing through.
The fact that BA.3.2 hasn’t behaved as a highly mutated variant might be expected to have left scientists genuinely perplexed and, in some cases, relieved. With more than 70 mutations, you might expect a virus that has a remarkable capacity to elude immune responses and proliferate. Rather, the ability of BA.3.2 to bind firmly to ACE-2 receptors—the cellular entry points the virus typically uses to establish infection—seems to have been lost along the way.
Due to that defeat, it is now a mediocre competitor on the international scene, unable to create the sweeping waves that previous Omicron descendants were able to. The variant has since shown indications of leveling off and declining in Germany, where it was responsible for an estimated 30% of new COVID infections between November and January.
Who is contracting the infection is one of the more surprising discoveries. Compared to other circulating variants, children are approximately five times more likely to contract BA.3.2, according to data from New York City. That pattern is not typical. Due to their weakened immune systems, older adults have typically had a more difficult time responding to COVID-19.
Although there is no evidence that the variant causes more severe disease in children or anyone else, the shift toward younger patients is a detail that virologists are closely monitoring. The explanation might have to do with the unique immune history that children have, or it might have to do with how this variation interacts with growing immune systems. There is currently no conclusive answer to that question.
While not totally clear-cut, the news regarding vaccines is generally encouraging. In lab settings, current COVID vaccines, such as those updated for the 2024–2025 winter season that target the KP.2 strain, seem to produce antibodies that handle BA.3.2 fairly well. Given that COVID testing infrastructure has been drastically reduced since the pandemic’s peak years, it is a little more difficult to determine whether that translates directly to population-level protection in the real world.
Dr. Tulio de Oliveira, who oversees the Center for Epidemic Response and Innovation in South Africa, the nation that initially discovered BA.3.2, has stated that he does not think the variant should be included in the upcoming vaccine updates, citing the absence of any discernible rise in hospital admissions or fatalities.
Observing how scientists publicly discuss BA.3.2 gives the impression that they are being closely monitored because they are aware of how quickly public opinion can change. If you worry too much, you might become anxious about something that might not work out. If it doesn’t, you’ll be caught off guard.
The variant has had roughly a year and a half to make an impact, and it hasn’t done much, according to Dr. Alex Greninger of the University of Washington. “It’s not a nothingburger,” he said, “but it’s like adding grilled onions to your burger.” Even though it is not scientific, that description likely sums up the current state of affairs more accurately than most official statements.
As of right now, BA.3.2 is in a holding pattern; it is found in wastewater, circulates at low levels in hospitals, is closely monitored, but does not yet require significant action. No one can say with certainty whether it will remain that way. It’s still unclear if a single new mutation could completely alter its profile or if it just keeps spreading slowly and mostly uneventfully before disappearing as so many other variations have.
The scientists are observing. Testing is being done on the wastewater. Additionally, the virus is still evolving on its own schedule, completely unaffected by what people hope it will do next, as it has done continuously for the past five years.
