By County News Center
San Diego, CA–While the state’s first COVID-19 case caused by the Omicron variant has been detected in Northern California in a traveler from South Africa, San Diego County health officials are urging people to continue following existing guidance.
The recommended preventive measures against COVID-19 and its previous variants, they say, are the best bet to protect against the new strain.
“There’s a lot about Omicron we don’t know yet, such as how it spreads, how sick it can make people, and how well existing vaccines work against it,” said Cameron Kaiser, M.D., M.P.H., County deputy public health officer. “In the meantime, the same precautions we’ve been advising for other strains of COVID-19 should help prevent or lessen the likelihood of people getting and spreading the Omicron variant, as well as the Delta, which is still the dominant strain.”
Although no cases of the Omicron variant have been detected in the San Diego region, the county and the local medical community are regularly monitoring for the Omicron variant using genome sequencing.
The county is also working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the California Department of Public Health to review recommendations when the variant arrives in the region.
There were 17 new community outbreaks that were confirmed in the past seven days from Nov. 24 through Nov. 30: Four in TK-12 grade schools, three in businesses, three in distribution warehouses, two in government settings, one in a restaurant and bar, one in a retail location, one in a hotel and resort and spa, one in daycare/preschool/childcare location, and one in a hair salon/ barbershop/ nail salon location.
