The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Wednesday that the omicron variant of the coronavirus has been detected in California.
The CDC said in a statement that the California and San Francisco Departments of Public Health confirmed the case in a traveler who returned from South Africa on November 22. On Monday, a person tested positive for Covid - 19.
The statement stated that the individual, who was fully vaccinated and had mild symptoms that are improving, is self-quarantining and has been since testing positive.
The head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Anthony Fauci, said Wednesday at a news conference that the person had not received a booster dose of vaccine.
Fauci said that it is another example of the importance of not only vaccination but also boosting. Even though the vaccines weren't specifically directed at, you get spillover protection even against variants that the vaccine wasn't specifically directed at. If you're eligible for boosting, get boosted right now, Fauci advised.
The Omicron variant, which was first detected in southern Africa last week, has a high number of mutations that suggest that it may spread much more easily than the delta variant, which currently accounts for 99.9 percent of Covid- 19 cases in the U.S.
Scientists have cautioned that it's still not clear whether omicron is more dangerous than other versions of the virus that has killed more than 5 million people worldwide. It is not known how well our vaccines and treatments would work against the variant.
The World Health Organization said Monday that the global risk of the new variant is very high. The emergence of Omicron is another reminder that although many of us might think we're done with Covid 19 but it's not done with us, said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization.
The U.S. restricted travel from South Africa and seven neighboring countries last week. The CDC has also announced that anyone traveling from those areas will be required to provide their names and contact information while they remain in the U.S.
The variant has been detected in the U.K. the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Belgium, Canada, Australia, Israel and Hong Kong, amongst other countries.
Some countries are unable to inoculate their populations due to lack of access, which is why world leaders and health experts are urging people to get vaccinated as soon as possible.