The new Omicron Covid-19 variant has been detected in California. The CDC is working with health authorities in California to track the variant’s spread.
The new Omicron Covid-19 variant has been detected in California, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The individual who contracted the variant was fully vaccinated and had mild symptoms after traveling to South Africa and returning home Nov.
22, the CDC said in a press statement. The individual tested positive Nov. 29. Health authorities in California have reached out to all close contacts of the individual in question, who is in self-quarantine, and all of them have tested negative. White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci told reporters Wednesday the individual was fully vaccinated, but added it is believed they did not receive a booster shot. They experienced “mild symptoms, which are improving at this point,” Fauci said. “This person did what we hope other people would do, they got off and as soon as they became symptomatic they went and got tested and it was positive,” Fauci added. The California case is the first detected in the U.S. Dozens of cases have been reported in Europe, Asia and Africa. The initial case was detected in South Africa Nov. 24. President Joe Biden has since shut down travel from seven countries in southern Africa, including South Africa. Although the Omicron variant was first detected by scientists in South Africa, it is still unclear where and when the variant first emerged. Officials in the Netherlands said this week that they detected two cases of the Omicron variant in test samples taken on Nov. 19 and Nov. 23 — before two flights from South Africa landed in the country last week. Dozens of passengers on both of those flights have tested positive.. The vast majority of cases are the Delta variant, which is still the predominant strain in the country. The CDC said the University of California, San Francisco completed the genomic sequencing that helped with the detection of the case in question. Scientists across the world are still studying the Omicron variant, including whether it can evade the vaccine and if it causes severe disease. Top Biden health officials, including Fauci, have warned it could take several more weeks until the world knows more about the variant’s impact on both the vaccinated and unvaccinated populations. In the meantime, the Biden administration is urging Americans to sign up for the booster shot.