“There is one way to address this - New Yorkers, get vaccinated, get boosted, and get ready,” the Democrat said.Ĭity Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi urged people who attended the event to get tested. Hochul said the case involving the Minnesota visitor underlined the need for everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or receive a booster shot if they have not already. “We shouldn’t panic, but we should be concerned,” she said. And health officials in the Netherlands now say it was found there prior to the South Africa detection.Īs comfort over air travel returns, it’s inevitable that new variants like omicron will spread from country to country and state to state, said professor Danielle Ompad, an epidemiologist at New York University’s School of Global Public Health. Scientists in South Africa first reported it, but the samples came from several countries in southern Africa.
Scientists also are studying the degree to which existing vaccines and therapies protect against omicron. Omicron is classified by the World Health Organization as a “variant of concern” as scientists work to determine how it may compare with the predominant delta variant in terms of transmissibility and severity. Much remains unknown about the new variant, including whether it is more contagious, as some health authorities suspect, whether it makes people more seriously ill, and whether it can thwart the vaccine.
The California traveler, who was vaccinated, developed mild symptoms and tested positive Monday.
22 was the same day the person infected in the California case returned to the U.S. it seems quite possible, perhaps the most likely, that this transmission happened at the arena convention in New York City but that’s not definitive,” Malcolm said. Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said the man had not traveled outside the U.S. 24, and his symptoms have subsided, officials said. He had been vaccinated and received a booster shot in early November, according to health officials in his home state. The Minnesota man began experiencing mild symptoms Nov. “We should assume there is community spread of the variant in our city,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement. Officials in the city of 8.8 million said they expected it would be only a matter of time before the new variant was reported in the city. opened up to vaccinated international travelers. The convention, occurring days before officials in South Africa reported the new variant, was held as New York City prepared to host the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and braced for throngs of tourists to return after the U.S. Officials in New York said they were working to trace attendees of the Anime NYC 2021 convention, held at the Jacob K. 19-21 drew about 50,000 people, according to event organizers, and attendees were required to wear masks and show proof of having received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Kathy Hochul said there are no confirmed omicron cases among New York residents yet but expected that to change, saying, “We do anticipate there will be more cases.” announced its first case of the variant had been detected in California, in a person who had recently traveled to South Africa. and leading officials Thursday to urge thousands of convention attendees to get tested. NEW YORK (AP) - A man who attended an anime convention in New York City in late November tested positive for the omicron variant of the coronavirus when he returned home to Minnesota, marking the second case of the variant in the U.S.