Omicron reported in Colorado

Woman in Arapahoe County recently went to southern Africa

Colorado has identified its first known case of the new omicron variant of COVID-19 in an Arapahoe County resident, but there’s no evidence that version of the virus is widespread at this point — and it’s still not known how great a risk the new strain poses.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment on Thursday reported the patient, an adult woman, has mild symptoms and is recovering at home. She recently had traveled to countries in southern Africa, where the variant was first identified.

Her COVID-19 test was flagged by the Tri-county Health Department for genetic sequencing because of her recent travel. State epidemiologist Dr. Rachel Herlihy said the woman followed all public health guidelines, including wearing a mask while traveling and getting tested as soon as she developed symptoms.

The woman was vaccinated against COVID-19, and enough time had elapsed that she was eligible for a booster shot, but she had not gotten one. People who were in close contact with her have been ordered to isolate, but none have tested positive so far, according to state health officials.

Gov. Jared Polis said he’s “not terribly alarmed” that an omicron case has been found, but he urged people to get vaccinated or get booster shots before it becomes widespread. Much remains unknown about the new variant, but indirect evidence suggests it could be more contagious than the delta variant, which currently dominates in Colorado and much of the world.

“If we have a few weeks … let’s use it to protect ourselves,” he said.

Overall, Colorado’s COVID-19 situation seems to be slowly improving. Hospitalizations for confirmed cases dropped to 1,400 on Thursday afternoon. Capacity remained tight, though, with only 67

beds and 399 general beds available statewide.

Other metrics also showed some improvement.

The average number of cases each day has continued to fall, although the decrease hasn’t been as steep in the past few days as it was last week.

The number of active outbreaks also fell for the first time since mid-july, although it was a decrease of only three.

The positivity rate raised one red flag that this wave may not be over. The percentage of tests coming back positive rebounded somewhat in the past few days, after slowly falling for much of November. It’s too early to know if Thanksgiving gatherings led to increased spread of the virus, and it isn’t clear what effect omicron might have if it becomes widespread.

“Certainly we’re less worried about exceeding our hospital capacity than we were two weeks ago, but this virus keeps throwing spitball after screwball,” Polis said.

The World Health Organization has classified omicron as a variant of concern, although much is yet to be known about how great of a threat it poses.

Mutations on the virus’ spike protein — the part that allows it to enter human cells — suggest it could be more contagious than previous variants and harder for the immune system to recognize, but it will take at least two weeks to confirm whether omicron behaves differently from previous variants.

California and Minnesota identified cases of omicron before Colorado did, and New York announced five cases later Thursday afternoon. The Minne-intensive-care resident hadn’t left the country, but had traveled to a convention in New York, suggesting at least some spread has happened within the United States.

Experts have raised concerns about whether the United States has a clear picture of how far omicron may have spread, because some parts of the country are doing significantly more testing than others.

Colorado does more sequencing than most states.

As of Thursday afternoon, omicron had been found in 36 countries, with cases that weren’t linked to travel in Canada and six western European countries, as well as South Africa and Botswana.

New information from the Netherlands shows the variant was in Europe a week before it was confirmed in South Africa and raised alarms.

The state health department advises anyone who has traveled internationally to take a test that looks for the virus’ genetic material three to five days after returning. While rapid tests can tell you if you have the SARS-COV-2 virus, the state can’t use them to determine which variant is causing your illness, Herlihy said.

COVID-19 cases recently started increasing in South Africa’s Gauteng province, which includes the cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria, Herlihy said. The spike in cases, which coincides with finding omicron there, is indirect evidence that the variant may spread more easily, she said.

A South African doctor reported her patients who had omicron generally had mild symptoms, but it’s not clear if that reflects a difference in the virus, Herlihy said. Many of the patients were in their 20s, and most people in that age group have mild or moderate symptoms, she said.

It also isn’t clear if the immune system has a harder time detectsota ing omicron, which would increase the odds it gains a foothold in people who have been vaccinated or recovered from a previous version of the virus.

At this point, the World Health Organization expects that people who have been vaccinated still will be protected from severe COVID-19, Herlihy said.

The state is sequencing about 15% of positive COVID-19 tests, as well as sampling wastewater to find out what variants are in the community and how widespread they are, Herlihy said.

Delta still accounts for almost all cases identified in Colorado, but at this point, the precautions are the same for all variants: get vaccinated; get a booster, if you’re eligible; wear a mask in public indoor settings; practice social distancing; and stay home, except to get tested or get medical care, if you’re feeling sick.

“The strategies are the same,” she said.