According to officials, five COVID-19 Omicron cases have been identified in New York State.
Governor Kathy Hochul stated in a statement that New York State had confirmed five Omicron variant cases. Let me clarify: this is nothing to be concerned about. The spread of this variant was predicted and we were prepared.
Officials stated that there are three confirmed cases: one in Suffolk County, two Queens and one each in Brooklyn.
In Suffolk County, the case involves a person who has been vaccinated. The status of others in the community is not known. Hochul encouraged New Yorkers not to get vaccinated and urged them to use masks.
The new cases in New York come just hours after it was revealed that a Minnesota man who attended the massive Anime NYC convention late last month in Manhattan was found to have been infected with the Omicron variant.
Hochul said that Hochul was able to confirm Thursday’s claim that Hochul had suffered only mild symptoms. He has since been fully recovered.
But New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the geographic spread of the new positive tests suggested the variant was now undergoing unchecked ‘community spread’ in the city, and wasn’t linked to any one event.
He said that ‘we gotta assume that there’s more to that, and that it’s been here for some time’, warning that more variants were likely.
New York State recorded 11300 COVID new cases Thursday. This is the most since January, this year when there was a third wave. It flashes an alarming trend, as Omicron gatherings and holidays loom.
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Governor Kathy Hochul released a statement saying that five New York State cases have been confirmed with the Omicron variant. This should not be a cause of alarm. We were aware of this variant’s emergence and have the resources to stop its spread.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio stated that the geographical spread of positive results suggested the variant was being unchecked and was not linked to one particular event.
New York recorded 11.300 new COVID-19 patients on Wednesday. This is the highest number since April 2021. This increase is due to a Minnesota Omicron variant case that was linked to an anime convention in New York City.
Hochul and de Blasio jointly held a press conference as a symbol of unity.
The governor had earlier said that on Thursday she would not respond to Omicron’s spread in the state.
“I won’t cause panic to people in this state, who have been through so much. I’m not an alarmist. Hochul stated shortly before first confirmed cases that he was not planning to shut down the schools and the economy.
“That is an extreme reaction. Consider where you’d be without the vaccine. She added that if we didn’t have the vaccine, then we’d be in an emergency situation. “I do not see any return to this situation as long as vaccines and boosters work.”
Omicron has several worrying mutations, so public health professionals are still trying to assess the risk. This suggests that it may spread rapidly and possibly evade immune system.
Omicron has been classified as a variant of Concern’ by the World Health Organization. Scientists are currently trying to figure out how Omicron may be compared with the dominant Delta variant in terms both of transmission and severity.
South African health officials found the Omicron variation last week. Although not much else is known, recent tests revealed that it is 2.4 times more contagious than any previous Omicron variant.
It is believed that it may be vaccine-evasive due to the high amount of mutations. However, most cases are very mild.
New York news was announced just days after U.S. reported that the variant had been discovered in California in the case of a South African citizen.
Omicron was then confirmed by a positive test in a male who had attended a large anime convention at Manhattan’s Javits Center.
Another case was reported Thursday by officials in Colorado. This woman had just returned from a trip to South Africa.
According to rapidly emerging reports, the variant may be already in circulation unrestricted in the United States.
Hours before the confirmation of New York cases, Omicron was confirmed in a man who tested positive days after attending a huge anime convention (above) in Manhattan’s Javits Center
There is no way to know what the variant might be doing in the sudden increase in New York cases, which reached its highest ever daily case count Thursday.
New York saw its last record of more than 11200 cases on January 31, as the disastrous 2021 Covid flood came to an abrupt halt.
Over the last week, COVID-19 infection cases have almost doubled. From around 5,500 per day in November 19, to nearly 11,300 by Thursday,
The state experienced an increase in cases due to the Delta Wave, but the number of cases has risen since the beginning of autumn.
New York currently sequences less than four percent of positive Covid test results, which means that Omicron cases within the 96 per cent would be missed.
New York City and the state are on alert after a New York man was reported to have the variant while he traveled there recently.
Minnesota officials announced that on Thursday, a Hennepin County man, which also includes Minneapolis, had the second Omicron case in America.
He attended Anime NYC in New York last week. The three-day event ran from November 19-21 at the Javits Center, Lower Manhattan. It was attended by approximately 53,000 people from all over the country.
On November 22, he began to feel the symptoms of Covid after relocating back to Minnesota.
He tested positive for Covid two days later on November 24.
South Africa was the first to detect the variant. More than 11,000 people were reported in South Africa on Thursday. This was just two weeks after South Africa posted a daily average below 500.
Officials say that his symptoms were mild, and that he has already recovered.
The virus was not a common symptom in his past, and he had never traveled internationally.
He is also fully vaccinated.
“We know of an Omicron variant that has been identified in Minnesota, which is connected to traveling to New York City conferences, so we can assume that there may be community spread,” de Blasio announced in a statement.
“We will contact the conference attendees in collaboration with the State and CDC. We required that the conference participants wear masks. This was in compliance with Key2NYC requirements to require vaccination.
He also urged attendees of Anime NYC to have their DNA tested immediately.
Governor Kathy Hochul stated that ‘We are not defenseless against the variant’ at Thursday’s news conference, encouraging New Yorkers who live in New York to be vaccinated.
“In addition to boosters and vaccinations, we can slow down the spread of this variant as well as all COVID-19 variations by wearing masks and staying at home when you are sick. We also have the option of getting tested when necessary.
Hochul declared, “I don’t want anyone panicking over this,”
The state will not be caught unawares like in March 2020 when New York City was hit with a huge surge just before the outbreak of the pandemic.
Eight cases have been sequenced in America as of Thursday night.
Images release by the Covid Genomics UK Consortium show the drastic increase in spike protein mutations in the Omciron COVID-19 variant when compared to the Delta variant
This variant was detected for the first time in South Africa on Wednesday. However, it is thought to have originated either in Botswana (or in another European country).
South African officials report that the variant has been reported in milder cases than other variants.
This mutation has more than 50 variants. It includes 30 of the spike proteins that COVID-19 vaccines use to protect against infection.
The Delta variant, responsible for the massive spike in U.S. cases last summer, had only seven mutations.
On Thursday, the Covid Genomics UK Consortium published imaging that showed how stark the differences are between Omicron and Delta variants.
Experts are concerned that vaccines could prove ineffective due to the many new infections.
South African experts report that the variant may bypass natural immunity and infect Covid survivors at three times the rate of other variants.
However, early reports suggest Omicron’s infection may be milder than some other strains.
