Maryland confirms 3 omicron coronavirus variant cases

[turbinetree]

Source: Associated Press

3 minutes ago

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland health officials have confirmed the first three cases of the new omicron variant of the coronavirus in residents of the state, Gov. Larry Hogan announced Friday.

All three cases are from the Baltimore metropolitan region, officials said. Two are from the same household, including a vaccinated person who recently traveled to South Africa and an unvaccinated person who was a close contact of that person. The third case, a vaccinated person with no known recent travel history, is unrelated to the other two. None of the three people are hospitalized.

Contact tracing efforts are underway to ensure that potential close contacts are quickly identified, quarantined and tested, officials said.


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-larry-hogan-maryland-baltimore-e5077f84e4112f1854ba07eb47eff3f9

---

How many states now.....8 or 9....

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Unhappy to learn

it's AHM-i-kron and not o-MY-kron though some are saying OH-mi-kron

[ForPeace]

7. UK vs US usage

In the UK it’s o-My-kron and in the US it’s AHM-i-kron.

[EarlG]

2. I'm sure it's everywhere already

If it's as contagious (or more contagious) than Delta and we only just started testing for it, it's going to be in all 50 states already and we just haven't found it yet. That's why I'm not keen on these news stories that are reporting it as if it's a sort of creeping menace that's only just now arriving in certain states. I'm sure it's spreading rapidly all over the place as we speak.

I'm still weirdly optimistic that Omicron is going to end up less deadly than Delta, and if it out-competes Delta then this could be a positive thing rather than a negative.

Obviously a lot remains to be seen.

[turbinetree]

3. Agreed ......

[IronLionZion]

4. "None are hospitalized" is a good sign

however South Africa now has lots of unvaccinated children hospitalized with Omicron. The high transmissibility and low vaccination rates does not bode well for unmasked children.

[Pobeka]

5. It's really no sign at all.

3 people is not enough to predict anything reliable about the general population one way or the other.

Another week in S. Africa and the death count will start to tell us more.

I do hope it's low.

[IronLionZion]

6. Eeyore

[speak easy]

9. Murphy was an optimist :)

[IronLionZion]

11. I feel optimistic that things are getting better with this pandemic

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/could-omicron-variant-bring-milder-illness-2021-12-03/

Some DUers continue to falsely claim it's 3 people when it's lots more in 6 US states and several countries in Africa and Europe. DU is social media.

[yaesu]

8. Still not reading anything about severity of symptoms which makes me wonder if this

will be the mild variant, fingers crossed.

[twodogsbarking]

10. Three today, three thousand next week.