Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Nirav Shah announced via Twitter on Monday that public health officials have identified a new variant of the coronavirus here in Maine.

Shah sent out a series of tweets announcing the discovery of the BA.2 variant of coronavirus in wastewater testing. The Maine CDC began statewide wastewater testing more than a month ago as another way to track the virus. 

“Finding BA.2 was not unexpected. Indeed, we found it because we are continuing to look for these variants in Maine. This also underscores how we are responding to a changing virus,” Shah wrote.

The BA.2 variant, according to Shah, is a sublineage of the omicron family of COVID-19 viruses. The variant has appeared in multiple locations, both worldwide and in the United States. 

Shah cited the World Health Organization in saying the disease is more contagious than the omicron variant responsible for the surge in cases late last fall, but the difference is not as stark as that between omicron and the delta variant. 

“Though BA.2 sequences are increasing in proportion relative to other Omicron sublineages, there is a reported decline in overall cases globally,” Shah wrote.

It is possible, Shah wrote, that people who have had the omicron variant may be protected against BA.2, but he added that the best protection remains getting vaccinated and boosted.