NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – State health officials have detected the first case of the Omicron variant in the state. The New Mexico Department of Health says the variant was found in a woman from Bernalillo County on Sunday. She had traveled to a state that had reported cases of Omicron but NMDOH did not say which one.
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NMDOH says the woman was released from an emergency room and is recovering at home. Omicron has now been found in at least 30 states and more than 60 countries. Health officials say Omicron appears to spread faster than the delta variant but may not cause as severe an illness.
The department says Omicron has been identified as a variant of concern by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The CDC describes a variant of concern as “A variant for which there is evidence of an increase in transmissibility, more severe disease (for example, increased hospitalizations or deaths), significant reduction in neutralization by antibodies generated during previous infection or vaccination, reduced effectiveness of treatments or vaccines, or diagnostic detection failures.”
