The New Omicron Variant: What Washingtonians Should Know

SEATTLE — The new omicron variant of COVID-19, which has been linked to a surge of cases in South Africa, is "most definitely" already in the United States, said Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former head of the Food and Drug Administration.

Gottlieb spoke about the new variant on Sunday's episode of "Face the Nation" on CBS.

"It's almost definitely here already, just looking at the number of cases coming off planes this weekend," he said. "It's almost a certainty that there have been cases that have gotten into the United States."

Local officials agree that omicron is in the states, if not already in Washington.

"There's almost no chance that it's not," said Washington State Hospital Association Chief Executive Officer Cassie Sauer.

Cases of the new variant have been reported in Canada, Australia, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Israel, Hong Kong, Britain, and other countries. The U.S. and dozens of other countries now have bans on travel from South Africa and seven other southern African countries. A state of emergency was issued for New York Friday in response to the variant's discovery.

The restrictions could buy the U.S. some time to boost vaccination rates and roll out other possible interventions, officials said.

"The best protection against this variant, or any variants out there, the ones we've been dealing with already, is getting fully vaccinated," said President Joe Biden at an address Monday discussing the omicron variant.

The Washington State Department of Health and private laboratories conduct genetic sequencing on human COVID-19 samples from across the state, which allows the agency to detect and track variants. According to a Washington State Hospital Association briefing Monday morning, thus far the omicron genome sequence has not been confirmed in Washington.

But that doesn't mean Washingtonians can't prepare — everyone ages 18 and older is urged to get their booster as soon as possible if it has been at least six months since they got their second dose of Pfizer or Moderna, or at least two months since they got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, public health officials said.

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From just over 200 new confirmed cases per day in recent weeks, South Africa saw the number of new daily cases rocket to 2,465 on Thursday. Struggling to explain the sudden rise in cases, scientists studied virus samples from the outbreak and discovered the new variant, which appears to have a high number of mutations — a factor could allow it to spread faster, scientists with the University of Cambridge said.

Lawrence Young, a virologist at the University of Warwick, described the variant as "the most heavily mutated version of the virus we have seen." He said it was concerning that although the variant was only being detected in low levels in parts of South Africa, "it looks like it's spreading rapidly."

So far, there is no indication the variant causes more-severe disease. South African experts said that, as with other variants, some infected people don't have any symptoms.

"It is not yet clear whether infection with Omicron causes more severe disease compared to infections with other variants, including Delta," the World Health Organization said in a statement Sunday. "Preliminary data suggests that there are increasing rates of hospitalization in South Africa, but this may be due to increasing overall numbers of people becoming infected, rather than a result of specific infection with Omicron. There is currently no information to suggest that symptoms associated with Omicron are different from those from other variants."

Fortunately, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says federal health officials are better-prepared to battle a surge of the omicron variant than it was a year ago when the delta variant arrived, noting that the CDC has launched a new surveillance system to specifically track the omicron variant.

"This variant is a cause for concern, not a cause for panic," Biden said. "We have the best vaccine in the world, the best medicines, the best scientists, and we're learning more every single day."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.