Omicron variant arrives in US, elevating danger

Written by Michael D. Shear, Shawn Hubler and Roni Caryn Rabin
The omicron coronavirus variant was reported within the United States for the primary time on Wednesday in a traveler who had been in South Africa, as scientists all over the world research whether or not the variant is extra transmissible or virulent than its predecessors.
The affected person, a resident of San Francisco, is in isolation, and aggressive contact tracing is underway, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention mentioned in an announcement. The particular person was totally vaccinated, although with out a booster shot, and was displaying gentle signs that have been bettering, the company mentioned.
The discovery prompted the Biden administration to resume calls for everybody to get totally vaccinated and, if eligible, obtain a booster. It additionally got here because the CDC requested airways for the names and make contact with info of all passengers who had boarded flights certain for the United States since Nov. 29 and who had been in southern Africa up to now two weeks.

The World Health Organization has warned that the chance posed by the variant, which was first recognized in South Africa on Thursday, is “very high.” More than 20 international locations have detected the variant.
California well being officers mentioned the state was rising coronavirus testing at airports, specializing in arrivals from international locations recognized by the CDC as potential sources of the variant. Gov. Gavin Newsom mentioned that California wouldn’t be intensifying public well being restrictions, no less than within the quick time period, however that “we should assume that it’s in other states as well.”
“There is no reason to panic, but we should remain vigilant,” he mentioned in an announcement. “The best thing we can do is to get vaccinated if you haven’t already, get your booster, and wear your mask indoors. As we continue to learn more about this variant, get tested if you have symptoms, and stay home if you’re sick.”

On Thursday, President Joe Biden is predicted to announce methods the federal government will ramp up its combat in opposition to the virus in the course of the winter months, together with more durable worldwide journey restrictions and efforts to speed up vaccine and booster availability.
Answers about whether or not omicron is extra contagious or lethal stay elusive as scientists across the globe race to map its attributes — together with extra mutations than the delta variant — and search to find out whether or not the vaccines will show efficient in defending folks from an infection or severe hospitalization. Officials in South Africa have mentioned that they have no idea of any deaths related to the variant, however well being consultants say it’s too early to evaluate its true risks.
Still, omicron’s emergence in the course of the vacation season, as Americans ready to assemble with relations, raised the grim prospect of yet one more surge in a pandemic that has severely examined the persistence of a weary public, prompted unparalleled financial harm and stoked political division.
Speaking to reporters shortly after the variant’s discovery was introduced, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the president’s prime medical adviser, expressed optimism that the United States would finally emerge from the grip of the pandemic.
“This will end,” he mentioned. “I promise you that this will end.”

Public well being officers all over the world have mentioned for days that they count on the brand new, mutated type of the virus will shortly discover its solution to the United States regardless of the imposition of a journey ban by the Biden administration and different governments on worldwide vacationers from eight southern African nations late final month.
Scientific affirmation of the variant’s presence within the United States was nonetheless a jolt to Biden’s efforts to make good on his marketing campaign promise to carry the pandemic to a swift and conclusive finish. At the White House on Wednesday, he mentioned that “we’re learning more every single day” and vowed that the administration would “fight this variant with science and speed, not chaos and confusion.”
Shortly afterward, Fauci instructed reporters that affirmation of the brand new variant within the United States ought to persuade unvaccinated Americans to get photographs instantly.
“We have 60 million people in this country who are not vaccinated who are eligible to be vaccinated,” he mentioned. “Let’s get them vaccinated. Let’s get the people vaccinated, boosted. Let’s get the children vaccinated.”
Fauci additionally urged warning, saying there was a lot that well being officers didn’t know in regards to the new variant.
“There’s a lot of information that is now evolving,” he mentioned.
Dr. Anthony Fauci speaks in regards to the Omicron coronavirus variant throughout a press briefing on the White House in Washington, US on Dec 1, 2021. (Reuters)
In California, Newsom mentioned the contaminated particular person had not been hospitalized, and different folks the person got here involved with haven’t, at this level, examined constructive. The governor mentioned the affected person traveled from South Africa, landed within the United States on Nov. 22 and began feeling gentle signs on Nov. 25. The particular person was examined for the coronavirus on Nov. 28 and acquired a constructive outcome a day later.
In a day, scientists on the University of California, San Francisco, had decided that it was the omicron variant.
The particular person had acquired two doses of the Moderna vaccine however was throughout the six-month window of its effectiveness and had not acquired a booster, Newsom mentioned.
Mayor London Breed of San Francisco mentioned in an announcement that the town had “one of the highest vaccination rates and lowest death rates in the country because of the actions our residents have taken from the beginning of this pandemic to keep each other safe.”

Throughout the pandemic, San Francisco County has prevented the disaster ranges that affected a number of the state’s different cities, like Los Angeles, as residents enthusiastically abided by restrictions, wore masks and acquired vaccinated. The county says 77% of residents are totally vaccinated.
Dr. Bob M. Wachter, the chairman of the division of drugs at UCSF, mentioned that the case wouldn’t be the final in California. But for now, he mentioned, “I’m not changing my behavior any based on a single or a handful of cases.”
After information of the variant’s unfold in South Africa, international locations all over the world curtailed air journey to and from the area — measures that officers there described as unduly punitive, particularly in mild of the truth that Western international locations had did not ship ample vaccines and logistical assist to the continent.
In South Africa, the variant accounts for many of the new each day instances reported within the nation’s most populous province, Gauteng, which is house to some 15 million folks and the cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria.
At the White House on Wednesday, Fauci mentioned he was “not so sure” that new testing necessities for worldwide vacationers, which administration officers are presently weighing, would have helped catch the case earlier. The affected person had taken a take a look at instantly after starting to expertise what he described as gentle signs.
Fauci added that it was attainable that the federal authorities might change its definition of “fully vaccinated” to require worldwide vacationers to have acquired booster photographs earlier than coming into the United States.
Asked if Americans ought to be at liberty to attend vacation events and drink drinks unmasked, he mentioned it trusted the scale of the gathering.
“In a situation with a holiday season, indoor-type settings with family that you know is vaccinated, people that you know, you can feel safe with not wearing a mask and having a dinner, having a reception,” Fauci mentioned. But in bigger public settings the place it’s unclear if everyone seems to be vaccinated, he mentioned, folks ought to put on masks besides to eat or drink.
This article initially appeared in The New York Times.