5 Omicron cases detected in US

Several more cases of the omicron variant of the coronavirus were reported in the United States on Thursday, including five people in New York City and on Long Island, officials said. Other cases were reported in Minnesota, Hawaii, California and Colorado.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said one of the cases in her state was a 67-year-old woman from Suffolk County on Long Island who had recently traveled to South Africa and had tested positive for the new variant, which is highly mutated. The woman had been vaccinated and had mild symptoms of Covid-19, Hochul said. She said the new cases were “no cause for alarm.”

Minnesota health officials said a man who lives in the state was infected with the Omicron variant after recently traveling to New York City.

A woman who lives in Colorado became the state’s first case of omicron, state health officials said, after she recently returned from a trip to southern Africa for tourism. She had been fully vaccinated and was eligible for a booster shot but had not yet received it. She was experiencing mild symptoms and isolating at home.

Health authorities had confirmed Wednesday the first known U.S. case of the omicron variant was detected in a San Francisco resident who returned to California from South Africa on November 22. And on Thursday, Los Angeles County confirmed an additional case in California, a fully vaccinated adult who had traveled to South Africa in late November.

But an Oahu resident with no history of travel is the first omicron case in Hawaii. “This is a case of community spread,” the state department of health said in a news release. The individual had previously been infected with the coronavirus but was never vaccinated.

Much remains unknown about omicron, including whether it is more transmissible and capable of causing more serious illness.

According to the Minnesota Department of Health, that state's infected man is a resident of Hennepin County, which includes Minneapolis. He had been vaccinated, and he got a booster shot in early November. He is no longer feeling symptoms, the department said.

The man first developed mild symptoms on Nov. 22, shortly after traveling to New York City for the Anime NYC 2021 convention at the Javits Center, the department said. Officials said the man had not been outside the United States recently.

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