A new highly mutated strain of coronavirus has been found in 25 states, including Illinois, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The new strain, BA.3.2 or nicknamed “cicada,” is genetically distinct from the JN.1 lineages that have circulated in the United States since January 2024.
Health officials do not believe the new strain poses a greater threat than other circulating variants, though it has mutations that may allow it to avoid vaccines and human antibodies.
The CDC has monitored the spread of BA. 3.2 of using the National Wastewater Surveillance System, along with several other surveillance programs. While wastewater analyses give a broad picture of where the virus has spread, including Michigan, it does not provide a granular, community-level look at how widespread cases are. And those specific numbers have not yet been determined by the CDC.
Hospital admissions for COVID-19 in Illinois has been declining since the beginning of January, accounting for just 0.5 percent of hospital admissions in mid-March, according to IDPH.
Currently IDPH lists COVID-19 activity in Illinois as “very low.”
There are not yet any known symptoms that seem to be unique to cicada, though a lesser immune response to the strain could lead to more severe iterations of traditional COVID-19 symptoms like fatigue, headache, sore throat, fever, gastrointestinal issues, and loss of taste and smell.
While nothing from patients with cicada “necessarily indicates that the variant causes more severe disease, nor does it establish any association with risk factors,” there have still been a relatively small number of cases in hospitals, producing limited data. And its ability to circumvent vaccines means it could pose a significant threat in the future.
The strain was first found in the United States on June 27, 2025 at San Francisco International Airport in a passenger who had traveled from the Netherlands.
By Feb. 2026, BA.3.2 had spread to 25 different states, as the latest CDC studies detected the cicada strain 132 wastewater samples in 25 states.
Other states where the strain has been found include Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, California, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and Wyoming.
