California has first U.S. case of omicron variant. Fresno doctor shares COVID message
The first U.S. case of COVID-19 from the new omicron variant of coronavirus has been detected in California, in a traveler who returned last month from a trip to South Africa.
Officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Wednesday that the case was confirmed by both the San Francisco Department of Public Health and the California Department of Public Health.
“The individual was a traveler who returned from South Africa on November 22, 2021,” the CDC reported. “The individual, who was fully vaccinated and had mild symptoms that are improving, is self-quarantining and has been since testing positive.”
People close to the individual have been identified through contact tracing and, so far, all are testing negative for the virus.
The B.1.1.529 variant, dubbed “omicron” under the Greek alphabet scheme that has been adopted for naming COVID-19 variants, first surfaced in countries on the southern part of the African continent in recent weeks and was initially reported to the WHO by South African scientists.
In the San Francisco case, genomic sequencing of the person’s positive coronavirus test was performed at University of California San Francisco and was confirmed by the CDC “as being consistent with the Omicron variant.” That makes it the first confirmed case of COVID-19 caused by the variant to be detected in the U.S.
In a joint statement, the San Francisco and California state health departments said that because of the state’s large-scale testing and case-detection programs, confirmation of a coronavirus case caused by the omicron variant was “expected.”
“We must remain vigilant against this variant, but it is not a cause for panic,” the two agencies said. “We recognize that everyone is exhausted, and the news of a new variant can be overwhelming.”
California Department of Public Health officials added that “it is important that we collectively focus on the things we know prevent the spread of COVID-19, and its variants. Individuals should (1) get vaccinated and boosted; (2) wear your mask in indoor settings; (3) get tested if you have symptoms; and (4) stay home if you are sick.”
Relative to the highly contagious delta variant, which has been deemed responsible for nearly all new coronavirus cases in California and the U.S. since August, much is unknown about the omicron variant. The CDC reports that the new strain “may spread more easily than other variants, including Delta.”
However, since the number of cases to date is so small, it’s unknown whether illnesses connected to the new strain are more or less severe or likely to cause death than cases caused by other variants, according to the CDC.
“Early evidence suggests that fully vaccinated people who become infected with the Omicron variant can spread the virus to others,” the CDC reported. But, the agency added, “All FDA-approved or authorized vaccines are expected to be effective against severe illness, hospitalizations and deaths.”
Fresno health department reaction
A day before the San Francisco case was confirmed, the Fresno County Department of Public Health said it was closely following news about the new coronavirus variant.
“We are still learning about the Omicron variant and will be communicating with the public as information becomes available,” Dr. Rais Vohra, interim health officer for Fresno County, said in a statement Tuesday. “Regardless of variant, we can all make the community safer if we stick to the basics — use a mask, plan your activities safely, and get your vaccines for COVID-19 and the flu to protect yourself and your family.”
Fresno County health officials added that omicron is considered a “variant of concern” by U.S. and global health authorities not only because of the potential that it can be more easily spread from one person to another, but also because of the uncertainty over increased ability to make people sick and require hospitalization.
At the local, state and federal levels, health officials said the emergence of the omicron variant underscores the importance of vaccinations and boosters to prevent or reduce the severity of coronavirus infections.
Local COVID statistics
As of Wednesday, more than 144,000 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed through testing in Fresno County since the first infections were identified in March 2020. Of those, COVID-19 has been deemed the official cause of death for 2,259 people.
Since the first vaccines against the coronavirus became available in December 2020, more than 611,000 Fresno County residents have received at least one dose of vaccine, including almost 541,350 – or 57.1% of eligible residents – who are fully vaccinated with either two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or one dose of the single-shot Janssen/Johnson & Johnson vaccine., according to the state Department of Public Health.
Almost 108,000 people in Fresno County have received booster doses of vaccine since they became available in the fall.
More than one-third of vaccine-eligible residents in Fresno County are wholly unvaccinated, yet to receive even one shot of any of the authorized vaccines.
