First Case Of Omicron Variant Detected In Santa Clara County

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA — The first case of the omicron variant in Santa Clara County was detected Thursday, county health officials announced.

The person, who is in isolation, recently returned to the Bay Area from Florida and is fully vaccinated but has not received a booster. The person had very mild symptoms that resolved quickly, according to county health officials. They had mild symptoms on Nov. 30, were tested Dec. 1 and the county received the sequencing results on Thursday that detected the omicron variant.

County health officials were not surprised that the omicron variant — which has been detected in 21 states — surfaced locally. The nation's first case was detected in San Francisco, and a cluster of cases stemming from an out-of-town wedding were discovered in Oakland in a Kaiser Permanente hospital.

Officials urged people to get vaccinated and boosted to protect against the spread of the new variant.

“Although there are still many unknowns about this variant, we strongly recommend getting vaccinated and getting your booster if you haven’t already to help guard against Omicron,” Dr. Sara Cody, the county’s public health officer, said in a news release. “It is a new variant, but we know what to do, and that’s to continue with all our layers of protection: Vaccinate, boost, mask, ventilate, distance, and test often.”

Dr. Marty Fenstersheib, the county’s COVID-19 vaccine officer, stressed that “two initial shots are not enough.”

“Boosters have been shown to offer a great deal of additional protection from serious COVID-19 infection,” Fenstersheib said.