Colorado detects first cases of Omicron variant in the state
DENVER — Colorado has confirmed its first case of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) announced Thursday.
Colorado joins California and Minnesota as the only states to detect the Omicron variant.
The person who tested positive is a fully vaccinated female resident of Arapahoe County, CDPHE said in a news release. The woman recently traveled to Southern Africa for tourism. She had not received a booster shot, although she was eligible for one.
CDPHE says the patient’s symptoms are “minor" and that she is in isolation. People that she was in close contact have tested negative for the virus.
Speaking in a press conference on December 2, Governor Jared Polis urged people not to panic.
“At this point, I’m not terribly alarmed,” Polis said. “There is indirect evidence that [Omicron] is more transmissible. Why? Because it seems to be crowding out other variants in areas that it’s prevalent.”
“We know if community transmission [of the variant] is occurring in Colorado, it is very small,” the governor added.
Polis said that the Omicron variant has not yet been confirmed in the state’s wastewater studies, which suggests there is not a high level of community transmission.
The Omicron variant of COVID-19 was first detected in South Africa in November. The World Health Organization classified the variant as a “variant of concern.”
“There is still a lot to learn about the Omicron variant, but due to some of the mutations on the spike protein of the virus, it is possible that Omicron might be more transmissible, or immune response may not be as effective,” CDPHE officials wrote.
Polis predicted that it would be weeks, not months, before we have a better sense of how contagious Omicron is and how effective the vaccines are against it.
It is currently unknown if the Omicron variant is more dangerous than the highly contagious Delta variant, which currently makes up nearly 100% of COVID-19 cases in Colorado.
As of December 2, 1,400 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 in Colorado. According to the governor, 1,152 of them—making up more than 82% of current hospitalizations—are not vaccinated.
Most health officials said the detection of the Omicron variant was inevitable. “We knew that it was just a matter of time before the first case of Omicron would be detected in the United States,” Dr. Anthony Fauci said earlier this week.
Although scientists are still studying the transmissibility of the Omicron variant, public health officials are urging people to receive their COVID-19 booster shots when eligible.
“Absolutely do not wait,” Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told PBS NewsHour. “Get [boosted] as soon as possible.”
You can find a full list of where to receive a booster shot in Colorado here.
Kyle Cooke is the digital media manager at Rocky Mountain PBS. You can reach him at kylecooke@rmpbs.org and on Twitter at @KyleACooke.