Another case of the Omicron variant of COVID has been reported in The angel County, health officials said Monday.
The second case of the omicron variant (B.1.1.529) is a college student who traveled to the east coast for the Thanksgiving holiday, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
The fully vaccinated student had mild symptoms and was self-isolating.
Anyone who came into close contact with the student was quarantined and tested. Health officials were working to determine who else might have been in contact with the student.
The health department said it was likely the student contracted the virus outside of LA County.
The student’s travel dates and other information related to his trip have not yet been released.
The University of Southern California student newspaper The Daily Trojan reported that it was one of her students.
The severely mutated variant of the coronavirus called Omicron has arrived in LA County. Hetty Chang reports for NBC4 News on December 2, 2021 at 11 p.m.
The first case of the Omicron variant in LA County was reported on December 3rd. This person had tested positive upon returning to LA County after traveling to South Africa via London. This fully vaccinated individual had traveled on November 22nd.
The first US case of Omicron was discovered in San Francisco after a traveler returned from South Africa on November 22 and tested positive on November 29.
This person is fully vaccinated but has not yet received a booster shot, said Dr. Anthony Fauci during a December 1 press conference at the White House.
With a number of cases discovered so far in the United States – including cases in NYC — and omicron continues to spread worldwide, here’s what we know and what we don’t know about the new variant so far.
What is omicron?
Omicron is a new variant of COVID-19, which the World Health Organization designated as a “variant of concern” on November 26, 2021. The name comes from the Letter in the Greek alphabet.
The Omicron variant was first discovered by scientists in South Africa, where it is thought to be the cause of a recent spike in cases in Gauteng Province.
Where the variant first appeared is unclear. After South Africa alerted the WHO to the presence of omicron, declared the Netherlands You saw omicron cases up to a week before. The variant has since been observed in travelers Arriving in several countries from Australia to Israel to the Netherlands as South Africa has alerted the WHO.
Because the variant was only recently announced, we don’t yet know much about how it differs from other forms of COVID-19. Scientists around the world are studying the Omicron variant to gather more information.
The variant appears to have a large number of mutations or genetic changes on its spike protein, a Protein found on the surface of the virus this plays a role in how easily the virus spreads between people.
Lawrence Young, a virologist at the University of Warwick, described Omicron as “the most severely mutated version of the virus that we have seen”.
Is Omicron more transferrable?
It is not yet known for certain whether the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is more transmissible. There isn’t much data yet, and the existing data hasn’t been thoroughly studied at this point.
However, scientists fear that the large number — more than 30 — and genetic modifications to the spike protein make Omicron more easily transmissible.
Scientists are closely watching how the new variant could affect people who have contracted and recovered from COVID-19.
A panel of experts assembled by the organization to discuss available data led the WHO to state that “preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of reinfection with this variant” compared to other variants.
This means that people who are immune to COVID-19 can be re-infected with the Omicron variant.
Sharon Peacock, who led the UK’s COVID-19 genetic sequencing at the University of Cambridge, says so during the mutations in omicron match the species that would increase transmissibility, “the significance of many mutations is not yet known.”
Is Omicron more concerning than the Delta variant?
Delta remains by far the most dominant form of COVID-19 globally.
Much is unknown about omicron, including whether it’s more contagious than previous versions, makes people sicker, defeats the vaccine, or more easily breaks through the immunity people get from a bout of COVID-19. World health authorities have not yet linked any deaths to Omicron.
Currently, the extra-contagious Delta variant accounts for virtually all cases in the US and continues to cause misery at a time when many hospitals are struggling with nurse shortages and a backlog of patients undergoing procedures that were postponed early in the pandemic .
The fear is that omicron will push even more and perhaps sicker patients into the hospitals.
Does Omicron cause more serious diseases?
As with the transmissibility data, we do not yet know for sure whether omicron causes more severe illness than other forms of COVID-19 or whether there is an increased risk of death.
There is no evidence yet that omicron causes more severe disease.
Early reports from scientists in South Africa, already grappling with a rapid rise in cases, suggest that omicron cases tend to have mild symptoms.
“We have seen a sharp increase in cases over the past 10 days. So far, it has mostly been very mild cases in which the patients have had flu-like symptoms: dry cough, fever, night sweats, a lot of body aches. said dr. Unben Pillay, a general practitioner in South Africa’s Gauteng province, where 81% of new cases were reported.
Most of these cases were mild enough to be treated at home rather than in hospitals. However, Pillay noted that hospital admissions for COVID-19 typically come several days after the cases started to spike.
The Omicron variant of COVID-19 isn’t in the US yet, but health officials are urging Americans to get vaccinated and get their booster shots as soon as possible. Toni Guinyard reporting for Today in LA on Tuesday November 30, 2021.
Most omicron cases in South Africa to date have involved relatively young people in their 20s and 30s, Pillay noted. Older people can have more severe symptoms if they become infected.
And as with other forms of COVID-19, vaccinated individuals seem to fare better than unvaccinated individuals when it comes to Omicron.
How can I protect myself from Omicron?
The same tools used to stop previous versions of COVID-19 will help when it comes to omicron.
Masks used indoors, where ventilation tends to be poorer and the virus spreads more easily when it’s present, can help protect you from infection, or protect others if you’re sick and haven’t realized it.
And vaccines are still important. Scientists are studying whether current vaccines are less effective against Omicron, but we don’t have enough data to say for sure that they are.
Even if we end up needing one omicron-specific COVID-19 vaccine, partial protection from the vaccines we have now is better than no protection at all.
“There are many reasons for optimism that this is not a terrible situation that we find ourselves in. The vaccines should withstand serious illnesses, especially in people who are boosted,” Dr. Eric Topol, Founder and Director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, said CNBC on Tuesday.
Boosters can also play an important role in reacquainting your body with the virus and triggering your immune system to produce higher levels of antibodies to COVID-19.
All vaccines also boost T cells, another part of the immune system’s response to disease that’s less affected by the differences between COVID variants.
“Our T cells are very insensitive and are not significantly affected by variants,” said Topol.
Ultimately, it will take some time to collect solid data to be able to make certain statements about the effects of Omicron.
“Careful studies take time,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health, on the TODAY show. “You have to grow the virus, do the testing, see what happens in people. There is no way to go faster.”
In the meantime, President That’s what Joe Biden said on Monday, “this variant is a cause for concern, not a cause for panic.”
