Nov. NYC convention site of first known U.S. variant case

Minneapolis man attending anime gathering contracted omicron before it had even been named by scientists

They wore fluorescent wigs and capes with gold tassels. They arrived in knee-high white platform boots and with feathered wings affixed to their backs. Dressed like their favorite characters or just wearing street clothes, they packed into Manhattan’s main convention hall — some 53,000 of them — over three days in November to celebrate their love of Japanese animation shows known as anime.

In the crowd was Peter McGinn, a 30-year-old health care analyst in town from Minneapolis. He attended discussion panels, chatted with strangers about his anime podcast and, at night, sang karaoke with friends. After flying home, he learned that one friend from the convention — an anime fan from North Carolina — had just tested positive for the coronavirus. In the days to come, many more of his friends from the convention would test positive, as well. Coughing and feeling tired, McGinn also took a test. He had the virus, too.

That was Nov. 23, a day before most scientists had even heard of the new variant that was tearing across southern Africa. The World Health Organization had not yet even given the variant a name — omicron. But it was already present in the United States, undetected.

That became apparent this past week, when health authorities in Minnesota examined the virus samples in a batch of recent tests. One of them — from McGinn — showed omicron’s telltale mutations.

His infection, which was announced by Minnesota health authorities Thursday, is the first known instance of omicron spreading within the United States. “I’m essentially patient zero,” he said in an interview from Minneapolis on Friday, though he wonders how he contracted it. “It’s still a mystery.”

He may never know. The announcement came more than 10 days after the anime convention ended, leaving health authorities far behind, even before they realized the race against omicron had begun.

New York City health officials have sent tens of thousands of emails and text messages to the convention attendees, urging them to get tested. But so far authorities have yet to confirm any transmission of omicron at the Anime NYC convention, which was held Nov. 19 to 21.

It is possible that the convention contributed little to omicron’s spread. But it appears more likely that the virus is once again outpacing a public health response that is simply unable to keep up. On Saturday, Connecticut officials said a man in his 60s from their state fell sick with the omicron variant in late November, days after a family member had returned from attending the anime convention.

In the nearly two years since the novel coronavirus first began circulating in this country, the United States has built enough capacity to test more people than any other country. It is now sequencing some 14 percent of positive PCR tests.

But amid tens of thousands of new delta infections in the United States each day, omicron’s landfall and spread are easily hidden. Many coronavirus infections are asymptomatic or have only minor symptoms, slipping under the radar.

Indeed, it remains unclear if the anime convention was a superspreader event. “We haven’t found evidence of widespread transmission at the convention,” Adam Shrier, a spokesman for New York City’s contact tracing program, Test and Trace Corps, wrote in an email.