NEW YORK (AP) — The omicron variant of COVID-19 has been discovered in at least five states, showing yet again how mutations of the virus can circumnavigate the globe with speed and ease.
Just a day after the first known U.S. case was found in California, tests showed Thursday the omicron variant had infected at least five people in the New York City metropolitan area, plus a man from Minnesota who had attended an anime convention in Manhattan in late November.
Officials reported another case in a Colorado woman who had recently traveled to southern Africa.
The variant was also confirmed in an unvaccinated Hawaii resident with no recent travel history.
According to the Associated Press, the other four cases in New York include a 67-year-old woman from Long Island who recently traveled to South Africa, residents of Brooklyn and Queens, and another case possibly linked to travel.
In Colorado, a woman who had recently traveled to southern Africa was also infected by the variant.
Health officials in Hawaii said the individual is an unvaccinated adult that lives on the island of Oahu. They are not currently hospitalized and were
suffering from “mild-to-moderate” symptoms, the news outlet reported.