Omicron variant found in Altamonte Springs wastewater, city manager says
The omicron variant has been detected in the Altamonte Springs wastewater plant, the city manager said.
The sample taken on Thursday showed the variant was present, meaning persons in the area have been infected with it, City Manager Frank Martz said in an e-mail.
“The value of the Altamonte Springs COVID-19 Predictive Model is that we can detect virus spikes and Variants sometimes as much as a week before the people who are infected with the variants develop symptoms and get tested at a hospital,” he said. “No cases have been reported at local hospitals so far as I know.”
So far, three people have tested positive with the omicron variant in Florida. Earlier this week cases were confirmed in St. Lucie County and at James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital in Tampa. The person from St. Lucie had traveled internationally, officials said.
A third case was in Miami-Dade County.
Omicron, first reported in South Africa, arrived in the U.S. last week and is designated as a “variant of concern” by the CDC, based on preliminary evidence omicron spreads more easily than the original COVID-19 virus.
Breakthrough infections are likely to occur, according to the CDC’s website, though vaccines are still expected to prevent severe illness. More research is needed to conclude whether omicron infections will be more or less severe than infections from other COVID-19 strains, the CDC states.
Staff writer Caroline Catherman contributed to this report.
