Michigan health officials monitoring new ‘Cicada’ COVID-19 variant
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LANSING, Mich. (WILX) -Michigan health leaders are monitoring a new, more resistant variant of the COVID-19 virus.
The mutated COVID-19 virus has been dubbed the “Cicada” variant, coming from the Omicron strain.
Like cicadas, this variant has been lying dormant for about a year since it first emerged, but it is spreading more rapidly now.
Michigan State University infectious disease expert Dr. Rebecca Schein said the “Cicada” variant has mainly been identified through wastewater testing.
“An important thing to bear in mind about the cicada variant, and the data that we’re seeing that prompted the health alert, is that we’re seeing more of it in the water supply,” Schein said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the variant has been detected in at least six U.S. travelers, 29 patients and 260 wastewater samples, across 29 states.
It said numbers of reported detections have increased since September 2025, but because of limited surveillance capabilities in some countries, the available data underrepresents the actual extent of the variant’s spread.
“But we don’t actually know what impact that is causing on people, because when we test people, we test them just for COVID and not necessarily for the specific variant,” Schein said.
Resistance to immunity
The “Cicada” variant is resistant to herd immunity and vaccination.
The CDC’s most recent Morbidity and Mortality Report said that although infection and vaccination have lowered rates of severe COVID-19, the virus’ public health impact is still considerable.
Michigan Chief Medical Executive Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian said, while the variant may be strong, there is no cause for concern with tools for prevention readily available.
“We’ve got, not only testing available but testing you can do in your own home. We’ve got antivirals that are available,” Bagdasarian said. “And of course we’ve got these amazing vaccines, and those vaccines are updated every year, so we make sure we’ve got the right vaccine.”
Doctors Bagdasarian and Schein said frequent handwashing, wiping down surfaces and staying home when sick are the recommended best practices, no matter what strain of COVID is circulating.
The COVID-19 vaccine is also widely available.
“Nationally, we need to make sure that there is constant vigilance. That people are looking at these new strains,” Bagdasarian said.
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