First case of omicron variant found in state
The first known COVID-19 case caused by the new omicron variant in the United States was detected in an individual who returned to California from South Africa on Nov. 22, the state and San Francisco public health departments announced Wednesday.
Authorities said the individual is self-quarantining and had mild symptoms that are improving, but has not yet tested negative. All of the individual’s close contacts have been reached and tested negative.
Dr. Eric Sergienko, the interim Tuolumne County health officer, said basic public health actions people can do to protect themselves remain the same regardless of the variant: Get vaccinated; get a booster if eligible; wear a mask when indoors in public spaces; get tested when feeling symptoms, after travel, or if working closely with visitors; and stay home when sick.
In addition, vaccinated people who were hospitalized for COVID-19 in Tuolumne County on Tuesday outnumbered those who were unvaccinated for the first time ever.
The county Public Health Department reported there were six vaccinated people and five unvaccinated people who were hospitalized locally due to the virus as of Tuesday afternoon.
Sergienko said people shouldn’t be concerned that the breakdown of hospitalizations on Tuesday is part of any sort of larger trend.
“With this small of a population and narrow window of time, there are going to be moments, days when the percentage of vaccinated cases is greater than the average over time,” he said. “For the greater region, we continue to have about 20% of our cases being fully vaccinated.”
Sergienko shared a graphic to emphasize that more than 80% of new COVID-19 cases from June 1 to Nov. 22 in an eightcounty region that included Tuolumne and Calaveras involved individuals who were not fully vaccinated.
The graphic came from the Yosemite Gateway Area Coordination Team, which is led by Sergienko and cov
ers Calaveras, Tuolumne, Kings, Mariposa, Madera, Merced, Mono and Fresno counties.
The state Department of
Public Health also puts out weekly reports on the effectiveness of vaccines that show and describe the benefits of vaccination in terms of decreased cases, hospitalizations and deaths, Sergienko said.
Unvaccinated people in
California were 7.2 times more likely to get COVID-19 than fully vaccinated people from Nov. 14 to 20, the state Department of Public Health said in its most recent report on unvaccinated and vaccinated data.
Tuolumne County added 21 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, with 14 of those individuals unvaccinated and seven of them vaccinated.
Calaveras County added 20 more cases of the novel coronavirus Tuesday, but it does not publicly disclose vaccination status of new cases or deaths attributed to COVID-19.
Tuolumne County’s daily case rate decreased Tuesday to 18.7 per 100,000 residents averaged over the previous two weeks, down from 19.2 per 100,000 on Monday.
There were 76 active cases in Tuolumne County as of Tuesday, including 11 Covid-positive people who were hospitalized: five of them unvaccinated and six vaccinated.
New cases in Tuolumne County were identified Tuesday as two girls between age 12 and 17; one woman and two men between 18 and 29; two women and one man in their 30s; one woman and two men in their 40s; two women and two men in their 50s; and three women and three men in their 60s.
As of Tuesday afternoon, 62.4% of people age 12 and older in Tuolumne County were fully vaccinated and 65.8% of people age 12 and older in Calaveras County were fully vaccinated, according to county data monitored by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.