While COVID-19 is a long-closed chapter for most Americans, the virus that upended our lives only a few years ago is continuing to spread across the world, generating new variants that could evade immunity from previous infections or vaccinations.
One such variant is BA.3.2, which is spreading across the U.S. and has already been detected in 25 states, according to the latest data by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
SARS-CoV-2 variant BA.3.2, also known as “cicada,” was first detected in a respiratory sample collected on November 22, 2024, in South Africa but, as of February 11 this year, it has been reported in as many as 23 countries, with detections peaking in September 2025.
In the U.S., according to the CDC, the variant was detected in nasal swabs from four travelers, three airplane wastewater samples, clinical samples from five patients and 132 wastewater samples from 25 U.S. states.
Where New COVID Variant BA.3.2 Has Been Found
The CDC has multiple ways of monitoring the presence and spread of potentially dangerous diseases in the U.S.
BA.3.2 was first detected in states through the National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS), a program that collects and displays sewage data from communities in 22 states—California (two), Connecticut (six), Florida (two), Hawaii (two), Idaho (one), Illinois (one), Maine (19), Maryland (six), Massachusetts (nine), Missouri (one), Nevada (one), New Hampshire (17), New Jersey (three), New York (seven), Pennsylvania (four), Rhode Island (27), South Carolina (one), Texas (one), Utah (three), Vermont (one), Virginia (one) and Wyoming (two).
WastewaterSCAN, which also monitors and tracks more than a dozen infectious diseases across the country, found the variant in California, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan and Ohio. Genomic surveillance detected the variant in four states, according to the CDC, while respiratory samples taken at U.S. airports as part of the center’s traveler-based genomic surveillance (TGS) program identified it at San Francisco International Airport in California and John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.
TGS program triturator—consolidation points for lavatory trucks—and aircraft wastewater specimens found the variant at San Francisco International Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia.
The CDC figures were updated as of February 11, 2026.
Symptoms of New COVID Variant BA.3.2
BA.3.2 is a new, heavily mutated variant of COVID-19.
According to T. Ryan Gregory, a Ph.D. and professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Guelph who gave it its nickname of “cicada,” the variant “has been underground for years.” Its ancestor, BA.3, he wrote on X, “hasn’t been circulating since early 2022, and didn’t do much then either.”
But the new variant “is now emerging as a contender for the next major lineage,” Gregory added.
The symptoms of BA.3.2 are similar to those caused by other variants circulating, experts said. According to the CDC, common symptoms of COVID-19 in 2026 include:
- Cough
- Fever or chills
- Sore throat
- Congestion
- Shortness of breath
- Loss of smell or taste
- Fatigue
- Headache
- Gastrointestinal symptoms
Symptoms can vary from person to person, but experts reassure that there is no reason to believe that those who catch BA.3.2 will be sicker than those who catch the original strand of COVID-19 or any of the variants currently circulating.
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