With COVID Cases Rising, Morristown Seeks More Info On Omicron Variant

Update: The first omicron case in the United States has been detected. The California and San Francisco Departments of Public Health announced Wednesday afternoon that they discovered a patient with a COVID-19 case caused by the variant.

Original article:

MORRISTOWN, NJ — Morristown officials are seeking more information on the omicron variant of the coronavirus. But as delta remains the dominant variant in New Jersey, cases are still rising.

Mayor Tim Dougherty spoke Tuesday with Atlantic Health System, a major North Jersey health care provider which runs Morristown Medical Center. Atlantic Health System has seen an uptick in the delta variant's prevalence, Dougherty said at Tuesday's Town Council meeting.

"Most people that are getting it don’t have vaccinations, but people who are vaccinated are also getting it," Dougherty said of the virus.

Morris County has seen a significant increase in COVID-19 infections in the past month. The county averaged 49 new cases per day during the final week of October, according to the New Jersey Department of Health. But in the past week, state data shows the county averaging 133.8 new daily news.

COVID hospitalizations have risen to 1,052 patients statewide, but the figure remains significantly lower than this time a year ago, when the virus hospitalized 3,288 people in New Jersey.

The omicron variant hasn't been detected in the United States as of Wednesday morning. But Morristown officials hope to have more information to share in the coming days. The Morristown Department of Public Safety shared two links Wednesday from the CDC — a statement on the variant and the agency's push for adults to get booster shots.

"The recent emergence of the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) further emphasizes the importance of vaccination, boosters, and prevention efforts needed to protect against COVID-19," CDC Direction Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a statement. "Early data from South Africa suggest increased transmissibility of the Omicron variant, and scientists in the United States and around the world are urgently examining vaccine effectiveness related to this variant."

Scientists around the world are racing to find out more about the vaccines' effectiveness against the omicron variant. But in the meantime, Dougherty advised people to get vaccinated and to encourage others to do the same if they haven't already.

Seventy-one percent of Morristown residents, including 88 percent of people 12 and older, have completed their first round of COVID vaccinations, according to the state health department. Municipal data on booster vaccines are not yet publicly available.

"We don’t know if the Pfizer, Moderna or J&J (Johnson & Johnson) vaccines will work against it," Dougherty said. "From what I’m being told from some sources, it’s better to have the vaccine than not have the vaccine."

South Africa first identified omicron and alerted the World Health Organization, which classified it Friday as a "variant of concern." But the variant was already in the Netherlands a week before South Africa's report, said the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment — a Dutch research institute. Twenty-three countries, including Canada, have identified omicron cases as of Wednesday morning, according to CNN.

The World Health Organization and researchers around the world are working to determine the omicron variant's transmissibility and severity. Preliminary evidence indicates there may be an increased risk of re-infection for those who have had COVID-19.

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