On Wednesday, just days after state officials had said they were closely monitoring the new Omicron variant of COVID-19, the first confirmed case of the variant to appear in the United States was found in California.
COVID-19 Variant First Found in Other Countries and States Now Seen More Frequently in California
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH), in coordination with Santa Clara County and the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), today announced that an L452R variant of COVID-19 is increasingly being identified by viral genomic sequencing in multiple counties across the state. The 452R variant has previously been detected in other countries and states, including California, and is now increasingly being found in multiple counties throughout California. The state is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), local public health departments and laboratory sequencing partners to learn more about the variant, including how it spreads.