MILWAUKEE — For more than 2 years, the world's worked to navigate COVID-19 and now the pandemic's thrown its latest curveball into the mix: the omicron BA.5 variant.

"We're all getting sick of hearing about variants but as we've seen, with each new variant they're increasingly transmissible and that's especially the case with the latest, which is BA.5," Dr. Ben Weston, Milwaukee County's chief health policy advisor, said. "[It's] perhaps the most transmissible virus we've ever seen, so even more transmissible than measles."

While Wisconsin's case curve has held relatively steady, Dr. Weston said that could change as data shows the new variant has the ability to spread quickly, even if people have taken a lot of precautions to try and avoid it.

"Not only is it extremely transmissible, it also has immune evasion properties whether you've had Covid before, or even if you're vaccinated, you can still have breakthrough infections," Dr. Weston added.

Watch the full interview above.