Public health officials in California today said they have detected the first known case of the COVID-19 omicron variant in the United States — and a former California outbreak fighter has estimated that the United States might also have about 2,000 undetected omicron variant cases.
The South African province of Gauteng has the world's most closely watched omicron variant outbreak.
There are early signs that the omicron variant outbreak could case a significant number of infections severe enough to require hospitalization. Ridhwaan Suliman, Cambridge University researcher, analyzed tracking data from South Africa and reported in a post on Twitter that the number of new COVID-19 hospital admissions in Gauteng has increased to 136 in the past seven days, up 144% from the total for the previous week.
Those figures mean that, at this point, the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Gauteng is doubling every six days, Suliman said.
Public health officials in South Africa first announced the discovery of the Gauteng omicron variant surge Friday. Since then, pandemic trackers around the world have reported finding more than 60 omicron cases in about 60 countries.
At this point, all of the omicron variant cases detected outside of South Africa so far appear to be mild or asymptomatic.
What the News Means
For public health officials, and health insurers trying to protect enrollees, the news means new pressure to try to get people vaccinated against COVID-19, and to help get booster shots for fully vaccinated people.
Jeff Zients, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator, said in a statement that President Joe Biden acknowledged Friday that it was only a matter of time before the first omicron variant case was detected in the United States.
"The president's medical team continues to believe that existing vaccines will provide some level of protection against severe illness from omicron, and [that] individuals who have gotten boosters have even stronger protection," Zients said. "As such, we urge all adults to get their booster shots and to get themselves and their kids vaccinated, if they haven't already."
For life insurers trying to understand how the outbreak might affect their insureds, the California omicron variant detection announcement means continuing uncertainty.
COVID-19 vaccination rates are much higher in the United States than in Gauteng, and percentage of young people with health problems such as HIV infection is much lower.
