NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Minnesota's Department of Health said Thursday that the state has a confirmed case of the COVID-19 omicron variant -- in an adult male resident who was recently in New York City to attend an event at the Javits Center.
He told state officials he attended the Anime NYC 2021 convention at the Javits Center from Nov. 19-21. It is unknown where else he visited while in the city.
"This is not unexpected," Gov. Kathy Hochul said. "We have been in touch with the Javits Center, I've been in contact with New York City, spoke to Mayor de Blasio."
She added, "The information is still evolving, but we understand that this individual, while they were vaccinated, they have very mild symptoms and in fact those symptoms have already resolved. That is good news and what we want to make sure you know is there is one way to address this, New Yorkers — get vaccinated, get boosted and get ready."
Hochul told New Yorkers to expect cases of the variant to pop up in New York: "We do anticipate there will be more cases, but to the extent that they are mild, we will address the. This is not cause for alarm. Again, it was foreseen ever since it was first reported out of South Africa that we knew it would come to New York state at some point and I want all New Yorkers to know that their state government in collaboration with our local governments, our cities and our counties are prepared for this."
Mayor Bill de Blasio is advising anyone who attended the AnimeNYC conference, especially anyone experiencing symptoms, to get tested immediately and take additional precautions, including social distancing.
"We are aware of a case of the Omicron variant identified in Minnesota that is associated with travel to a conference in New York City, and we should assume there is community spread of the variant in our city," the mayor said in a statement. "We are working closely with the State and the CDC, as well as the Javits Center’s event organizers, and our Test and Trace Corps will be contacting conference attendees. This conference required masks and complied with our Key2NYC requirement to mandate vaccination."
The man developed mild symptoms on Nov. 22 and got tested on Nov. 24.
This is the second-known case of the omicron variant in the U.S., following a case in California.
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