New Jersey has detected a second case of the omicron variant in a man who attended last month's anime convention, the same event linked to several other cases of the variant in a handful of states.
Health officials in Connecticut, New York, and Minnesota have also linked omicron positives in their states to the November convention at the Javits Center.
The latest instance, detected in a Monmouth County man, happens to be just the second confirmed case of the omicron variant for the Garden State. The first case was announced by Gov. Phil Murphy on Dec. 4 in a traveler from Georgia.
Details of the most recent case of the variant of concern match reports from other detections in the U.S.
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The New Jersey Department of Health said the man had been fully vaccinated -- even recently had his booster shot -- and only experienced mild symptoms of COVID-19. He was also not hospitalized and has already recovered, according to the department of health's Friday announcement.
The second case of the variant for New Jersey comes on the same day nearby Connecticut leaders announced an additional nine confirmed positives, bringing that state's total to 11.
There are now a total of 25 states across the U.S. with confirmed cases of the omicron variant, thanks to positive detections in Texas, Georgia, Louisiana and Florida. The new variant cases come as the country struggles with a current wave of delta infections bring the number of daily COVID-19 cases past 100,000, up 23% since before Thanksgiving, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
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On Tuesday, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said the delta variant still accounts for more than 99% of genetically sequenced cases in the U.S.
Meanwhile, in New York, a new indoor mask mandate is set to shake things up come Monday when all indoor public places will be required to enforce masking if a vaccine requirement is not in place.
Daily COVID deaths in the state topped 50 (54) on Thursday for the first time in months, while the daily caseload topped 12,400 for the first time since late January.
