State officials said Saturday that three more confirmed cases of the COVID-19 omicron variant have been discovered — all in New York City — bringing the state's total to eight.
The eight cases include seven New York City residents and one from Suffolk County, officials said.
The Long Island case is a 67-year-old woman who recently returned from South Africa, Gov. Kathy Hochul said. The woman tested positive on Tuesday.
"We knew the omicron variant was coming and we expect to see more cases. But let me be clear: We are not defenseless," Hochul said in a release Saturday. "We have the tools to help prevent the spread of this deadly virus: Get your vaccine, get your booster, and wear your mask. Let's use these tools to protect ourselves and our loved ones as we approach the holidays."
State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett said officials are seeing the beginning of community spread of the omicron variant.
"At this time, we do not know how quickly omicron will spread or how severe the symptoms of omicron will be," Bassett said. "What we are seeing is that the rise of cases across New York State continues to be traced to the delta variant. We encourage all New Yorkers to use the best preventive tools we have: Get vaccinated, get boosted and wear a mask."
The Suffolk County case was identified by at the Pandemic Response Lab on Thursday, Hochul's release said.
While all of these cases are believed to be unrelated to the recent Animé NYC convention at the Javits Center, the state continues to urge anyone who attended to get tested for COVID-19 and wear a mask in public places.
Check back for updates to this developing story.
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Craig Schneider is a Long Island native and Stony Brook University alumnus. He joined Newsday as a general assignment reporter in January 2018 after 20 years at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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