Worried about latest COVID-19 variant at Masters Tournament? Here's what experts say

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly identified Piedmont Augusta Hospital. The story has been updated. 

Even with a more contagious version of the Omicron variant spreading across the country, there is little reason for visitors to Augusta to worry about COVID-19 right now, an infectious disease expert said.

"In this area, the risk is low," said Dr. Rodger MacArthur, a professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University. "That is true for most places in the U.S."

Since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention moved to a color-coded system that looks at risk in the community, the green for low risk covers nearly the entire map of the United States. In Georgia, many of the counties in the Augusta area are now colored gray for no new confirmed cases in the past two weeks, outside of 148 cases in Columbia County, 116 in Richmond County and nine in Screven County, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health. 

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Aiken County has seen 96 confirmed cases the past two weeks, with 13 in Edgefield County, according to an Augusta Chronicle analysis of data from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. Georgia has had 17,252 in the past two weeks, with a positive test rate Friday of 3%, while South Carolina had 2,428 and has a positive rate of 2.3%, according to the analysis of public health data.

Augusta hospitals are caring for only a handful of COVID-19 patients apiece now, with nine at Piedmont Augusta Hospital, six at AU Medical Center, five at Doctors Hospital of Augusta and none at the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center.

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Even with the lower rates, people should still monitor those public health numbers to keep track of what is happening in their communities, said Dr. Linda Bell, state epidemiologist for South Carolina.

"We still run the risk of having another surge of COVID," she said.

That has been heightened by the emergence of the BA.2 strain of the Omicron variant of the virus that causes COVID-19. Last week, it became the dominant strain circulating in the U.S. at 54.9%, according to the CDC data tracker. In Georgia, it accounts for 40% of samples sequenced but there has been no large surge of cases, said DPH spokeswoman Nancy Nydam.

The BA.2 strain does appear to be more infectious than the earlier version of Omicron but "there's no evidence that BA.2 variant results in more severe disease, nor does it appear to be more likely to evade our immune protection," said CDC Director Rochelle Walensky.

Nearly 2 million Georgians have been confirmed to have gotten COVID-19, according to DPH data. But for every one of those cases, there are likely two more that didn't get tested or may have used a home test, so those numbers are likely much higher, MacArthur said. Add to that the 5.8 million Georgians, 56% of the state, that are fully vaccinated, and 22% of the state that have gotten the booster dose, and that is a substantial number who have been exposed.

"That likely gives some degree of protection to the vast majority of Georgians," MacArthur said.

All of that makes it easy to welcome visitors again, he said.

"I think it is great that the Masters (Tournament) is back," MacArthur said.