Colorado has identified its first known case of the new omicron variant of COVID-19 in an Arapahoe County resident.
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 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.
The woman was vaccinated against COVID-19, but hadn’t yet received a booster shot. 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.
The World Health Organization has classified omicron as a variant of concern, though much is yet to be known about how great a risk it poses. Health officials believe that it may be more transmissible than previous iterations of the virus, and that people’s immune response to it may not be as effective.
California and Minnesota identified cases of omicron before Colorado did, and it’s likely the virus has also popped up elsewhere. The variant was already in Europe a week before it was confirmed in South Africa and raised alarms, suggesting it may have quietly spread for some time.
The state health department advises anyone who has traveled internationally to take a test that looks for the virus’s genetic material (not a home rapid test) three to five days after returning.
Omicron may be responsible for a recent increase in cases in South Africa.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
