Stock Groups

Minnesota reports second U.S. omicron case in resident who traveled to NYC

[ad_1]

Outside a hospital, a sign advertises COVID-19 Testing on November 19, 2021 in New York City.

Spencer Platt | Getty Images

According to the Minnesota Department of Health, Thursday was confirmed by Minnesota’s public health officials that there is a second case in the United States of the omicron Covid variant. The victim had just returned from New York City.

According to the department, this man was fully vaccinated, and has now recovered. He traveled from South Africa to New York City for the Anime NYC 2021 convention, which will be held at the Javits Center, Nov. 19-21. U.S. officials confirmed Wednesday the first known case of an omicron in California in a man who returned recently from South Africa.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul will address the public in Manhattan at 11:00 a.m. ET.

American and international health officials are worried that the omicron virus is becoming more easily transmissible, and could evade protection offered by vaccines. This variant contains more than 50 mutations. More than 30 are located on the spike protein, which the virus uses for attachment to human cells.

“The molecular profil of which types of mutations are you seeing.” [in omicron]It might also be transmissible more easily and might not get some protection from vaccines,” White House Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said to reporters Wednesday. But we are not sure at this time.

On Thursday, the Biden administration presented a plan for combating omicron as well as a potential winter surge of the most common delta form of the virus. All international travellers arriving in the United States will be required to have their Covid test done within 24 hours. This administration has extended mask requirements to domestic and international flights, as well as public transit until March 18. Access to Covid test at-home is now available.

On Wednesday, the World Health Organization announced that omicron had been confirmed in at most 23 countries around the globe. This variant was identified for the first time in Botswana by South African public health officials.

Maria Van Kerkhove is the technical head of WHO. She stated that South Africa’s hospitalizations have been increasing. But, it needs more data before we can draw conclusions on whether or not omicrons cause more severe illnesses.

Governor. The California patient who was positive for Omicron in California had been fully immunized, and has only mild symptoms. Gavin Newsom confirmed the news on Wednesday. This person is aged between 18-49 years and was not given a booster because they had not completed their first vaccinations six months ago.

California’s Health and Human Services Secretary, Dr. Mark Ghaly said that mild symptoms and improvement in the patient are signs of the importance vaccines.

Moderna’s CEO and Pfizer chief executive officer, Moderna, said it would take them about two weeks to collect enough data for analysis to see the effect of Omicron’s mutations on current vaccines. According to them, it will take up to 2022 for a vaccine that targets this variant. Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel claimed that they can produce a stronger dosage booster shot faster.

[ad_2]