First case of omicron in US recognized in San Francisco
A San Francisco resident became the first in the United States to have an identified case of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, marking a new phase in a pandemic that has lasted for nearly two years, officials said Wednesday.
The person returned to SF from South Africa on November 22nd and symptoms showed up on November 25th, Governor Gavin Newsom told a news conference. Newsom said the person was between 18 and 49 years old.
The person has mild symptoms that are already improving, city officials said.
“The symptoms were very mild,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at UCSF, where genome sequencing was performed to identify the case. “It goes with the other reports we hear from around the world that people get mild symptoms. It’s probably the first of many we’ll hear about. “
The person received a full dose of Moderna (two syringes) but no booster dose, said Dr. Grant Colfax, San Francisco’s director of public health, at a news conference Wednesday. The person is in self-quarantine.
“That’s no surprise,” said Colfax. “We knew omicron would be here. We thought it was already here and we just hadn’t identified it yet. So this is a cause for concern, but it is certainly not a cause for panic either. We are prepared for the city. “
Colfax added that there are currently no plans to change the city’s health regulations.
. @ CAPublicHealth, @SF_DPH & @UCSF have discovered a case of the Omicron variant.
As we learn more about Omicron, there is no need to panic, but we should remain vigilant.
We know how to protect ourselves from COVID – get vaccinated, get boosters & wear a mask.
– California Governor’s Office (@CAgovernor) December 1, 2021
The Biden government decided late last month to restrict travel from southern Africa, where the variant was first identified and widely used. Case clusters have also been identified in around two dozen other countries.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tightened US testing rules for overseas travelers, including requiring that all travelers be tested within one day of boarding a flight to the US regardless of vaccination status. It also considered ordering tests upon arrival.
Officials said these measures would only “buy up” the country to learn more about the new variant and take appropriate precautions, but given its portability, the arrival of Omicron in the US is inevitable.
At the San Francisco press conference, Colfax reiterated the opinion of officials and experts around the world that there is still much to be learned about the virus.
“We don’t know how contagious it is, although it is very likely that it is more contagious than Delta,” said Colfax. “We don’t know how sick people will get from it, but that is currently being studied around the world with great eagerness to have spoken to believe that vaccines are still vital to the protection of ourselves, our families and others our communities will be.
UCSF experts also said preliminary information shows promise that the vaccines hold up.
The infectious disease expert, Dr. Monica Gandhi said data from South Africa showed omicron-related diseases occur in unvaccinated people (65% are unvaccinated; the rest are half-vaccinated, according to a report) but not in vaccinated people. About a quarter of the population of South Africa has been vaccinated to date, so a variant that causes disease in unvaccinated people is the same pattern seen in Delta.
Scientists in Israel, where the variant has also been detected, have stated that they do not see any serious illness in the people who have been vaccinated.
Chin-Hong is also encouraged: “If you are vaccinated, you are likely to have excellent protection from the Omicron variant,” he wrote. “If, in theory, there could be a small hit in antibody protection, the chances are our T-cells and other parts of the immune system that kill infected cells continue to provide amazing protection against serious disease, omicron or not.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
