The omicron variant of COVID-19 has arrived in Bexar County, according to the San Antonio Metro Health Department.
The public health service agency announced the arrival of the highly contagious variant in a Tweet on Monday evening.
"The first two cases of the COVID-19 Omicron variant have been detected in Bexar County through genome testing conducted by UT Health San Antonio," the agency said. "Vaccination continues to be the best defense and protection against COVID-19."
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Twitter
See @SAMetroHealth's post on Twitter.
twitter.com/SAMetroHealth
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The science on the variant suggests a more transmissible disease, but possibly one that causes mild symptoms. However, Britain announced its first death from the variant on Monday. The other emerging issue is breakthrough cases of those who are vaccinated.
Harvard physician Dr. Jeremy Faust, who writes an email newsletter called Inside Medicine, reported Dec. 12 we need to get ususede to the idea of variants.
"As I’ve said several times recently, new variants will be the new normal for the foreseeable future," Faust wrote. "Though it may be hard to imagine now, in the future there will actually be a time when very few people are dying of COVID-19 on a regular basis. But even then, the virus will likely be circulating at varying levels in one region or another, if not everywhere."
