A sign outside a hospital advertises COVID-19 testing in New York City on November 19, 2021.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
At least five US states have now confirmed cases of the Omicron variant of the virus that causes Covid-19, as scientists are investigating whether the strongly mutated strain is more contagious and virulent.
At least 9 cases were confirmed in Minnesota, Colorado, New York, Hawaii and California on Thursday. California confirmed Omicron’s first U.S. case on Wednesday, bringing the total number of cases reported to date to 10.
Minnesota health officials on Thursday morning confirmed the second U.S. case of Omicron in a resident who recently returned from New York City, the state’s Department of Health said.
The man, who was fully vaccinated and has since recovered, traveled to New York City November 19-21 to attend the Anime NYC 2021 convention at the Javits Center, the department said in a statement. He developed symptoms shortly after his return and tested positive on November 22nd.
Hours later, Colorado’s Governor Jared Polis confirmed a third US case in a woman who had recently traveled to and returned to southern Africa. The patient was fully vaccinated but had not received a booster, he said at the press conference. She has mild symptoms and isolates herself at home, Polis said.
The governor said the extent of community transmission in the US is unclear, but health officials believe it is “very small” in Colorado. Polis said the state is filtering wastewater and has yet to detect an Omicron in the analysis. Colorado also does genetic sequencing on about 15% of its Covid tests to look for variants and has not yet discovered any other Omicron cases, he said.
“So if it were widespread we would know – it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist,” Polis said.
New York health officials confirmed 5 cases Thursday night, one in Suffolk County on Long Island and four in the greater New York City area. New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi said the cases suggest the variant is common in the community.
“These are not just people traveling to southern Africa or other parts of the world where Omicron has already been identified,” Chokshi said.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul told residents that the uncovering of multiple cases does not mean the state will return to the sweeping closures imposed at the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
“We are in a much better place that people are informed. There is no panic,” said Hochul on Thursday night. “It’s still a public health crisis, but it doesn’t have to be a shutdown crisis.”
It wasn’t immediately clear whether any of the New York cases were related to the anime convention that the Minnesota resident who tested positive was attending. Anime NYC, the convention organizer, said 53,000 people attended the three-day event.
“We confirmed with New York City Health officials that the event followed all guidelines set by the city and state, including mask requirements and vaccination records for everyone at the Javits Center,” Anime NYC spokesman Anthony Hesselius told CNBC .
Moments later, the Hawaii Department of Health confirmed a case of Omicron on the island of Oahu.
Los Angeles County reported its first case of the Omicron variant on Thursday night. The person returned to Los Angeles County on November 22, after traveling to South Africa via London.
“The person who is a fully vaccinated adult and resident of Los Angeles County is self-isolating and their symptoms improve without medical attention,” LA County health officials said. “A small number of close contacts have been identified in Los Angeles and to date all have tested negative and have no symptoms.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement Thursday that it is working closely with York City state health officials to investigate Omicron. CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said the US had expanded genome sequencing over the past nine months to identify new variants.
“We have more tools to combat the variant than we did at this time last year, from vaccines to boosters to the prevention strategies that we know work, including indoor public masking, frequent hand washing and physical distancing,” said Walensky. “These methods are designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19, regardless of the genetic sequence.”
The first US Omicron case discovered in California involved a person who had recently returned to San Francisco from a trip to South Africa.
The patient in California was fully vaccinated, had mild symptoms and was doing better, Governor Gavin Newsom said on Wednesday. The person, who is between 18 and 49 years old, did not get a booster dose because their original vaccination had not expired six months, he said.
Health officials in the US and around the world are concerned that Omicron is more transmissible and could bypass the protection of currently available vaccines to some extent. The variant has around 50 mutations, more than 30 of which are on the spike protein, which the virus uses to bind to human cells.
“The molecular profile of the types of mutations you see [in omicron] would suggest that it may be more easily transmissible and elude some of the protection afforded by vaccines, “White House chief medical officer Dr. Anthony Fauci told reporters on Wednesday.” But we don’t know now.
The Biden government on Thursday presented a plan to combat Omicron and a possible winter surge in the prevalent Delta variant of the virus. The White House requires all arriving international travelers to test for Covid within 24 hours of their departure. The administration extends the mask requirement on domestic flights and public transport until March 18. It also extends access to free Covid tests at home.
President Joe Biden said in an update to the public his plan did not include shutdowns or expansion of current federal vaccine requirements.
The World Health Organization announced on Wednesday that Omicron has been confirmed in at least 23 countries around the world. The variant was first identified in Botswana last month and brought to WHO’s attention by public health officials in South Africa.
Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO technical director for the Covid response, said Wednesday that hospital admissions are increasing in South Africa, but more data is needed before conclusions can be drawn about whether Omicron is causing more serious illness.
Pfizer and Moderna CEOs say it will take about two weeks to collect enough data to determine what impact omicron’s mutations are having on the effectiveness of current vaccines. They said it would take until early 2022 to develop a shot that specifically targets the variant. However, Moderna’s CEO Stephane Bancel said the company can bring a higher-dose booster to market much faster.
