Details of the first official U.S. omicron variant case have been released, giving us a timeline of when the patient was first infected.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed Wednesday that the omicron variant had arrived in the U.S., infecting a patient in California.
- “Genomic sequencing was conducted at the University of California, San Francisco, and the sequence was confirmed at CDC as being consistent with the Omicron variant. This will be the first confirmed case of COVID-19 caused by the Omicron variant detected in the United States,” the CDC said.
Per Deadline, California Gov. Gavin Newsom released fresh details about the first omicron patients, their symptoms and how they got infected.
- The patient, a female, was “between the age of 18 and 49,” Newsom said.
- The patient is a San Francisco resident.
- She is fully vaccinated.
- She visited South Africa and left for the U.S. on Nov. 21.
- The patient returned home on Nov. 22. A few days later, on Nov. 25, she got tested.
- Her positive COVID-19 test result came on Nov. 29.
Newsom said: “As soon as that test came back positive, that test went to the testing company through UCSF, and was sequenced. And it was determined that this sequence was the variant that has obviously generated a lot of headlines — for some a sense of panic. The panic has gotten ahead of the information.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, shared these details Wednesday. He said the patient had only experienced mild symptoms, which were improving, Fauci said, per the Deseret News.