More Omicron cases detected in US as hospitals strain under Delta surge
Washington DC: New York announced three more cases of the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus on Saturday, bringing the number of state cases linked to the new variant to eight.
"The Omicron variant is here, and as anticipated we are seeing the beginning of community spread," state Health Commissioner Mary Bassett said in a news release.
The number of states finding the variant is growing as well, with Massachusetts and Washington state announcing their first cases on Saturday, a day after New Jersey, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Maryland reported their first confirmed cases. Missouri reported its first presumed case on Friday.
The variant has also been detected in Nebraska, Minnesota, California, Hawaii, Colorado and Utah.
In New York, seven of the cases have been found in New York City, once a global epicentre of the pandemic, and the other in Suffolk County.
The arrival of Omicron comes as hospitals statewide continue to strain under a surge in Coronavirus cases, most traced to the delta variant, along with staffing shortages.
The number of people testing positive statewide each day for the virus has doubled in the last 30 days.
Governor Kathy Hochul in recent days has authorised the Health Department to limit non-essential, non-urgent procedures at hospitals close to running out of beds and deployed National Guard teams to relieve healthcare workers at facilities dealing with staffing issues and surging caseloads.
Fifteen members of the National Guard arrived at Monroe Community Hospital in Rochester on Saturday, WROC reported. Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin said on Wednesday the state would send 13 National Guard teams to the western New York county, where County Executive Adam Bello has declared a state of emergency.
New York's Omicron cases so far appear to be unrelated, Hochul said. One of the known cases involved a man from Minnesota who was among 50,000 people who attended a three-day anime festival in New York City in November. Authorities have urged anyone who attended the conference to get tested for COVID-19 and wear a mask in public.
Much remains unknown about Omicron, including whether it is more contagious, as some health authorities suspect, whether it can thwart vaccines and whether it makes people as sick as the original strain.
In Washington state, three cases of the Omicron variant were confirmed Saturday one each in Thurston, Pierce and King counties, state health officials said.
They noted the investigation is still early, and details were not yet known on the travel histories of the patients, two men and a woman who range from 20 to 39 years old.
A Massachusetts woman in her 20s who had travelled out of state is the first known case of the variant detected in her state, the Department of Public Health announced Saturday. The unidentified woman a resident of Middlesex County is fully vaccinated and has experienced mild symptoms.
A woman who recently travelled from South Africa became both New Jersey and Georgia's first confirmed case after seeking care for moderate symptoms at an emergency room. The fully vaccinated Georgia resident was in her home state for two days between arriving from South Africa and travelling onward to New Jersey, health officials in both states said.
Meanwhile, the US has made it mandatory for all incoming passengers, including those from India, to carry a negative COVID-19 test report or a proof of recovery from the contagion amidst rising number of cases of the new Omicron variant.
The new protocol comes into effect from December 6, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has said.
This amendment updates COVID-19 testing requirements for air passengers 2 years or older boarding a flight to the United States, Indian government officials informed Indian-American community leaders on Saturday.
As per the new amended order, effectively for flights departing to the US from a foreign country at or after 12:01 AM EST (5:01 AM GMT or 10:31 AM IST) on December 6, 2021, passengers are required show a negative COVID-19 viral test result taken no more than 1 day before travel.
Documentation of a negative SARS-CoV-2 viral test result from specimen collected no more than 1 calendar day preceding the passenger's flight to the United States or documentation of having recovered from COVID-19 in the past 90 days, before they board their flight.
Air passengers will also be required to confirm in the form of an attestation that the information they present is true, officials said.
The 1-day period is 1 day before the flight's departure. The order uses a 1-day time frame instead of 24 hours to provide more flexibility to the air passenger and aircraft operator.
By using a 1-day window, test acceptability does not depend on the time of the flight or the time of day that the test sample was taken, the circular explained.
