(GA Recorder) — At least four states reported U.S. cases of the omicron variant of COVID-19 by late Thursday, with New York reporting multiple infections soon after California, Colorado and Minnesota confirmed the virus’s arrival from overseas.
Minnesota’s governor responded by asking residents to renew their efforts to slow the spread.
“This news is concerning, but it is not a surprise,” Gov. Tim Walz said in a statement. “Minnesotans know what to do to keep each other safe now — get the vaccine, get tested, wear a mask indoors, and get a booster.”
The news comes just a day after reports that the first case in the country was detected in a California resident who had recently returned from South Africa, where the variant was first identified. The California resident was tested for COVID-19 on Sunday after beginning to feel ill on Nov. 25.
Following reports of the new strain, countries across the globe moved quickly to restrict travel from southern Africa but the variant has already been confirmed in nearly two dozen countries.
The Minnesota patient is a Hennepin County resident who had returned from an anime convention in New York City two weeks ago. The man, who was vaccinated, developed mild symptoms on Nov. 22 and tested positive for COVID-19 on Nov. 24. The man’s symptoms have since resolved, according to the Minnesota Department of Health.
The Health Department attributed the quick identification of the variant in Minnesota to the state having “one of the strongest (variant) surveillance programs in the nation.”
The omicron variant, called “a variant of concern,” by the World Health Organization, is believed to be even more infectious than the delta variant.
The variant has likely reached many more states than Minnesota and California, given not every sick person seeks a COVID-19 test and not every COVD-19 test is screened for the omicron variant.
President Joe Biden announced new measures on Thursday in light of the new variant, including tightening testing protocols for inbound international travels, bolstering efforts to get Americans vaccinated and boosted and expanding federal emergency response teams to aid states suffering from outbreaks.
Minnesota has had among the highest rates of infection in the country in recent weeks, baffling experts given the state’s relatively high vaccination rate and prompting Walz to call on the U.S. Department of Defense to assist in treating patients in the state’s beleaguered hospitals.
Georgia Recorder Editor John McCosh contributed to this report.
