First Omicron Variant Cases Reported in South Carolina

South Carolina reported the first case of the omicron variant. Officials at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston said the sequencing team detected the first three cases of omicron variant in the state this week.

They said all three cases came from adults in Charleston County. All three were fully vaccinated but had not received boosters, officials said.Dr. Brannon Traxler, director of Public Health for the Department of Health and Environmental Control, said all three had mild, flu-like symptoms.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the first U.S. case of the variant was identified on Dec. 1. As of December 8, just one week later, cases had been reported from across the country, with 22 states reporting at least one case.

Hirschhorn said that since the identification of omicron in Africa, we’ve been trying to do a run each week to make sure that we’re sequencing as real-time as possible. The more real-time you do sequencing, the better handle you have on what’s going on in the population. The first omicron case in South Carolina involved a COVID sample collected for testing on Dec. 4, MUSC said, meaning the variant has been in the state for at least a couple of weeks.

When a new variant is identified, the first thing that we can really get a good handle on is transmission, because we watch the number of cases and how quickly that increases — and omicron is pretty prevalent right now over in the U.K. The U.K. seems to be doubling omicron cases about every day.