LISTEN: 1st American identified with omicron, who visited NYC, speaks to 1010 WINS

NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Just days after being discovered in South Africa, the first confirmed case of the Omicron variant was found in Minnesota from a man who had recently traveled to New York City.

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Peter McGinn, the Minnesotan who was confirmed to have been infected with the new strain of COVID-19, spoke with 1010 WINS’ Brigitte Quinn about how he thinks he contracted the virus, what his symptoms were like, and how he is feeling now.

“Right now, I am feeling 100% I have fully recovered, and I feel great,” McGinn said.

McGinn went to the AnimeNYC convention at the Javits Center, and he said before he went, he felt perfectly fine.

McGinn said he was fully vaccinated before traveling to New York. He received the J&J COVID-19 vaccine in April and the the Moderna booster in early November.

While at the convention, McGinn said he was with a group of about 30 people, and after attending AnimeNYC, the group went out for dinner, drinks, and karaoke in the city.

“When we did the contact tracing, and just talking with the scientists at the Minnesota Department of Health, we concluded that it was more than likely a close contact [with a] party member I was with, [who] had covid prior to the convention but was asymptomatic,” McGinn said.

Of those in his group, 14 others tested positive for COVID-19, and only one was confirmed to be infected with Omicron.

“Because other people live in different states other than me until their states test their PCR samples, it can’t be confirmed, but it’s overwhelmingly likely that they also have the variant,” McGinn said.

Even while following CDC guidelines, getting vaccinated for COVID-19, getting a booster shot, McGinn knows this is unfortunate.

“I did feel safe. It’s just really unfortunate,” McGinn said. “I think that I was a breakthrough case, but I’m really happy with the fact that I’m healthy, the people I was with that tested positive are healthy, and I owe that to, I believe, the vaccines and the booster that I was able to have mild symptoms and recover so fast.”

Featured Image Photo Credit: GettyImages