Multiple cases of the omicron coronavirus variant have been detected in the United States. Here is the latest information for which states have reported cases, as of Thursday evening.
NEW YORK
Several cases were detected in New York, health officials said Thursday. Government officials said tests showed five people recently infected with the virus had the variant. They included a person in the city’s Long Island suburbs who had recently traveled to South Africa, residents of Brooklyn and Queens and another case possibly linked to travel. At least one person had received a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine but officials did not have details about the vaccination status of the four other cases.
Gov. Kathy Hochul at said at a news conference with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio that officials were still gathering details on the cases but there was “no cause for alarm.”
“We just want to make sure that the public is aware of information when we receive it,” she said.
De Blasio said the geographic spread of the positive tests suggested the variant was undergoing “community spread” in the city, and wasn’t linked to any one event.
“We gotta assume there’s a lot more behind that and that it has been here for a meaningful amount of time,” he said.
CALIFORNIA
The news came a day after the U.S. announced its first known case of the variant had been detected in California, in a person who had recently traveled to South Africa and returned to the U.S. on Nov. 22. The California traveler, who was vaccinated, developed mild symptoms and tested positive Monday.
COLORADO
Officials reported another case Thursday in a Colorado woman who had recently traveled to southern Africa. The Denver Post said the omicron variant of COVID-19 was identified in an Arapahoe County resident.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment on Thursday reported the patient, an adult woman, has mild symptoms and is recovering at home, the Post reported. She recently had traveled to multiple countries in southern Africa, where the variant was first identified.
The woman was vaccinated against COVID-19, and enough time had elapsed that she was eligible for a booster shot, but she had not gotten one, according to the Denver Post. People who were in close contact with her have been ordered to isolate, but none have tested positive so far, according to state health officials.
MINNESOTA
Those who tested for the new variant including a man who attended an anime convention in Manhattan in late November and fell ill when he returned home to Minnesota. The Anime NYC 2021 convention Nov. 19-21 drew about 50,000 people, according to event organizers, and attendees were required to wear masks and show proof of having received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
The man who attended the event had not traveled outside the U.S. and began experiencing symptoms the day after the convention, which Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said made it “perhaps the most likely,” that the man contracted COVID-19 at the New York City convention, but officials did not know for sure.
Officials in New York said they were working to trace attendees of the convention, which was held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center as New York City prepared to host the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and braced for throngs of tourists to return after the U.S. opened up to vaccinated international travelers.
The Minnesota man began experiencing mild symptoms Nov. 22. He had been vaccinated and received a booster shot in early November, according to health officials in his home state. He sought COVID-19 testing Nov. 24, and his symptoms have subsided, officials said.
Much remains unknown about the new variant, including whether it is more contagious, as some health authorities suspect, whether it makes people more seriously ill, and whether it can thwart the vaccine.