A Metro Atlanta resident has become Georgia’s first confirmed case of the highly mutated COVID-19 variant omicron.
The resident had recently traveled from South Africa and experienced mild symptoms before testing positive for COVID-19, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Genomic sequencing confirmed the presence of the omicron variant.
The patient was not identified but it has been said that the individual is a metro Atlanta resident who was also vaccinated against COVID-19 and had received a booster shot.
The individual is now isolated at home and that contact tracing is underway to find others who might have come in close contact with the resident and who may be at risk of infection.
On Friday, state health officials confirmed they were notified of a separate resident who had also returned from South Africa and who was in Georgia for two days before leaving for New Jersey, where the Georgia woman tested positive. She is also fully vaccinated and now isolated in New Jersey.
15 other states have also confirmed cases of the variant according to The New York Times: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Pennsylvania, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin. The variant has also been found in Australia, Botswana, Britain, Canada, Denmark, Germany, India, Israel, Norway, Spain, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe as well as in travelers in numerous other countries, the Times reported.
