Omicron outbreak at California hospital tied to out-of-state wedding, officials say

Eleven employees at Kaiser’s Oakland Medical Center in California have tested positive for COVID-19, at least six with the omicron variant of the coronavirus, health officials said.

They are among 12 cases in the San Francisco Bay Area linked to a wedding in Wisconsin, the Alameda County Health Care Services Agency said in a news release. The 12th is a Berkeley resident.

The infected health workers attended a Nov. 27 wedding in Wisconsin, officials said. One person at the wedding had just returned from an overseas trip.

All of those infected are fully vaccinated for COVID-19 with booster shots, health officials said. They are experiencing mild symptoms and none have been hospitalized.

Genetic sequencing identified the virus in at least six cases as the omicron variant, county health officer Dr. Nicholas Moss told the San Francisco Chronicle.

“It’s a good bet that they’re all the same variant,” he said.

The workers were not infected in the workplace and are recovering at home, Kaiser Permanente said in a statement.

The hospital worked with health officials to trace their contacts with patients and other employees, most of whom have tested negative for COVID-19 with some tests still in progress, the statement said.

“The emergence of the Omicron variant reinforces the need to protect ourselves, our families, and our communities through vaccination,” Kaiser Permanente said.

The omicron variant was first reported by researchers in South Africa on Nov. 24 after several doctors noticed symptoms among their patients that differed slightly compared to those caused by the delta variant, the dominant version of the germ spreading globally, McClatchy News reported.

Genetic sequencing revealed the variant sports a large number of mutations unseen in other variants.

Federal health officials confirmed the first omicron case in the U.S. on Dec. 1, in a fully vaccinated California resident who recently returned from South Africa, McClatchy News reported.

The variant has since been detected in over 50 countries and 19 states, “and we expect that number to continue to increase,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a White House COVID-19 briefing on Tuesday, Dec. 7.

This story was originally published December 9, 2021 at 11:21 AM with the headline "Omicron outbreak at California hospital tied to out-of-state wedding, officials say."