Honolulu (AFP) – State health officials confirmed that the Omicron type of coronavirus was confirmed Thursday in an unvaccinated Hawaiian with no recent travel history.
Dr. said. Sarah Kimball, an epidemiologist in Hawaii.
You can only identify the patient by saying that the person lives on the island of Oahu.
The news came as multiple cases of the oomicron variant were detected in other states, including Minnesota and California.
The US earlier this week announced the first known case of this type in a vaccinated Californian who had recently traveled to South Africa.
Scientists are trying to determine whether Omicron spreads easily or causes more serious disease than the delta variant that now dominates the United States, as well as examining how effective current vaccines are against it.
Scientists in South Africa first reported this, but samples came from several countries in South Africa. Health officials in the Netherlands now say it was found there before it was discovered in South Africa.
Given the facts of international travel, scientists have said it is inevitable that the ommicron variant will be discovered in the United States, and they believe it may have been circulating in the country before it was discovered.
Kimble said it’s only a matter of time before the variant is discovered in Hawaii and there are likely to be more cases in the state.
“The implication is that there was some transmission in the community before this caught our attention,” she said. “Whether it’s a single bond going back to a traveler or multiple degrees of separation, we don’t know at this point.”
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