It has only been 8 days the announcement of the Omicron variant, but it’s clear that it has probably been spreading for several weeks (months?) around the world already.
No cases discovered yet in Washington State. The first case detected in the USA was a traveler from South Africa that had returned to San Francisco. There are several other cases in the USA through community transmission, though (persons that have not traveled outside of their state or even their county). Update Sat 12/4: Public health officials have confirmed 3 cases of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus in Washington state. [Map from the New York Times online]And here are the countries that have reported cases of the Omicron variant. Almost all (99%) of cases in the USA are still the Delta variant, but that is expected to change. Many, many communities in the States still sit at 60% vaccinated, which is not good enough. There is evidence that the Omicron variant can reinfect people that had a previous Covid-19 infection, and no vaccination. [Map from the New York Times online]
