OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. — The first case of the Omicron variant has been confirmed Kent County, but state and local health officials said that it has been here for some time and is likely spreading in our other West Michigan counties as well.
The state was alerted to the positive test back on December 3 after a specimen was taken on Dec. 1. The positive result was later confirmed by the CDC on Dec. 9.
State and local health officials can't say where the variant was contracted, but confirmed that the person had not traveled internationally, and had been fully vaccinated but not had a booster. They also report that the individual had only mild symptoms.
While early reports show this variant displays more mild symptoms and is less severe, it appears to be more contagious but health officials say it's different for everybody.
"It has a lot more mutations than what the Delta variant had," said Dr. Nirali Bora, Medical Director for the Kent County Health Department, "and so when you have a variant like this, that is much more infectious, it's more contagious."
Because of that, health officials are confident that the case in Kent County isn't the only one, or possibly even the first.
"There are many people who may have it that have not been detected," said Dr. Bora.
A thought shared by health leaders in Ottawa County, like their Deputy Health Administrator, Marcia Mansaray.
"From our perspective, we assume that Omicron is already in our community," she said.
Regular COVID tests will not detect Omicron, instead local health departments are sending some of their positive tests to state labs to check for the variant.
"We're sending samples of positive tests to the state that we think are of higher concern," said Mansaray, "like those who have traveled or who may have more severe symptoms."
Mansaray said that at Hope College, their wastewater sampling program might also be an early indication of the Omicron variant's presence in Ottawa County.
"They detected a change in the pattern of the virus that they were monitoring on December 2nd, and it was suddenly different than what they had been watching throughout the last few months," said Mansaray. "So that gave us a clue that it was just a matter of time until a clinical sample was validated."
We also spoke on the phone with Dr. Aaron Best, Department Chair for Hope College's Genetics Department. He said that they can't officially confirm the presence of Omicron just yet, but the detection of patterns they've seen are consistent with the variant. He added that they're system is also detecting similar patterns in Kalamazoo.
Health officials said they still don't know too much about the Omicron variant, but they know that it's here, and the best way to stay protected is to get vaccinated.
"We don't have to wait for perfect information to take action," said Mansaray.
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