Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

  Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/PnU_weENwz0   The Covid Omicron variant, known officially as B.1.1.529, was first reported to the WHO by South African public health officials on 11/24/2021.  There is evidence that this variant may have been circulating as early as October 2021 and possibly earlier.     The first case of Omicron in the US was reported on 12/1/2021. As of December 8, there was at least one case in each of 25 states including Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington State, and Wisconsin.  Keep in mind though, as of the first week of December, 99.9% of CoVid cases were still due to the Delta variant.   As of the latest CDC report on 12/10, there were 43 known cases, one hospitalization, and no deaths due to Omicron.   So what are the details of these first 43 US Omicron cases.  One-third of the cas