After a weeks-long plateau, coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are once again rising in the U.S. as a new, highly transmissible omicron subvariant rapidly makes its way toward becoming the next dominant virus strain.

The current seven-day rolling average of cases is back to where it was in February, with an average of 64,000 cases tallied Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Thats roughly three times what it was toward the end of March.

The seven-day average for hospitalizations is also up by 20%, with the CDC reporting an average of 2,215 admissions over the last seven days up from the prior weeks average of 1,845.

Deaths from COVID-19 have stayed near record lows.

This drop in fatalities is likely thanks in part to current dominant variants appearing to be less deadly and vaccination rates being high in the U.S., Dr. Robert Garry, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Tulane University, told HuffPost. As of this week, roughly 66% of the U.S. population has been fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.

The preexisting immunity lets your body handle the infection better, but these variants are so infectious they may not keep you from getting infected, he said.

While the dominant omicron subvariant BA.2, which currently makes up nearly 62% of cases , appears to spread more easily than its predecessor, experts say another subvariant, BA.2.12.1, appears to be even more transmissible. BA.2.12.1 is spreading about 24% faster than BA.2 and, based on current rates, could become the dominant variant within the next few weeks, data shows.