Kaiser Permanente said Wednesday that 11 of its vaccinated and boosted Oakland Medical Center workers were among a cluster of East Bay COVID-19 cases linked to the omicron variant — and that at least 16 patients and other staff members were exposed to them before the discovery.
All 11 of the Kaiser employees had attended a wedding in Wisconsin that is believed to be responsible for the outbreak, the largest known Bay Area cluster of infections attributed to the worrisome new variant that has touched off a worldwide sprint to determine its dangers and contain its spread.
The revelation comes five days after Alameda County health officials said they were investigating 12 local COVID-19 cases linked to the Nov. 27 wedding.
As of Wednesday, six of the 12 cases have been confirmed to be the omicron variant, Alameda County health officials said. For now, there is no indication that the virus has spread beyond the larger group — a hopeful sign that public health measures have limited the spread of the variant that is now in 21 states. However, test results for some of the group are pending.
Alameda County health spokeswoman Neetu Balram said that as of Tuesday afternoon, “we had not documented any local transmission of COVID-19 connected to this outbreak.”
“But the investigation is ongoing,” she said.
Kaiser said Wednesday that the 11 infected members of its Oakland Medical Center staff were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and had received booster shots.
“These staff members’ exposure to COVID-19 happened at a wedding out of state, not through their work at the medical center,” Kaiser said in a statement Wednesday, indicating those workers “are isolated at home with mild symptoms.”
Kaiser said the first staff member reported symptoms Nov. 30. Eight patients and eight other members of its staff were potentially exposed to the infected workers before they were symptomatic or tested. Those patients and staff now are isolated and being tested, with no confirmed COVID-19 cases among them so far. Of those, 13 have tested negative for COVID-19, and results are pending for the rest.
“The potential window of exposure at our facility was brief and isolated, as the few affected staff members, who are in patient-facing roles, worked briefly prior to being symptomatic or tested,” Kaiser said. “All adhered to COVID-19 infection prevention guidance while in the facility.”
Kaiser said the mild symptoms of the infected staff are “consistent with the reported severity experienced by other people who are vaccinated and contracted this illness.”
Any employee or physician confirmed to have COVID-19 or suspected of having COVID-19 due to symptoms will not come to work, Kaiser said, in adherence with CDC isolation protocols.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the omicron variant is believed to be more contagious than the original version of the virus but it’s unclear whether it spreads more easily than the now-dominant delta variant. And “more data are needed,” the CDC says, to know if omicron causes more severe illness than other variants, reinfections and breakthrough infections in people who are fully vaccinated.
It’s still unclear whether the omicron variant’s presence is growing in the Bay Area. On Dec. 1, San Francisco officials announced the first U.S. omicron case in a San Francisco resident who recently had traveled to South Africa, where the variant’s rapid spread first alarmed health officials. It has since been found in more than 30 other countries and 20 U.S. states.
A day after the San Francisco case was announced, omicron was confirmed in several other states — Hawaii, Colorado, Wisconsin and New York — sparking even more concern that it would quickly take hold in California and other parts of the country.
The California Department of Public Health said there have been 11 cases of the omicron variant identified in the state as of Tuesday, all in fully vaccinated people, 10 of whom were under age 50 and one over age 50, none of whom have been hospitalized. Those include one case in San Francisco, one in Long Beach, three in Los Angeles, and the six in Alameda County. None of the individuals have been hospitalized.
San Francisco health officials Wednesday also had no update on whether any other residents in the city have since tested positive and were confirmed to have the omicron variant.
Santa Clara County health officials said in a statement Wednesday that no omicron variant cases had yet been detected in the Bay Area’s largest county, which was home to among the nation’s earliest COVID-19 cases and deaths at the start of the pandemic in early 2020.
“We are looking for evidence of the omicron variant in both samples from cases as well as in our wastewater,” Santa Clara County health officials said. “However, we want to emphasize that even with these surveillance systems in place, the absence of detection does not mean the absence of a case, and we anticipate that we will likely soon see a case.”
Health officials in Contra Costa County said Wednesday they too had no cases yet of the omicron variant to report but advised that could change any moment.
“It’s difficult to speculate about why or why not,” Contra Costa County health spokesman Karl Fischer said. “It is likely the virus is circulating at a low level in the Bay Area.”
On Wednesday, Pfizer announced that preliminary laboratory studies showed three doses of its COVID-19 vaccine neutralize the omicron variant, while two doses show significantly reduced protection.
“Although two doses of the vaccine may still offer protection against severe disease caused by the omicron strain, it’s clear from these preliminary data that protection is improved with a third dose of our vaccine,” said Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla in a statement.
Though the infected Kaiser staff were vaccinated and received booster doses, Balram said Wednesday that “it continues to be important for everyone to get vaccinated and boosted, if eligible.”
“We know it is possible to prevent or slow the spread of COVID by taking safety precautions like staying at home when sick, masking and getting tested,” Balram said of the region’s first omicron outbreak. “It is likely that these factors have helped limit detected spread in Alameda County, thus far. However, local transmission connected to this outbreak may yet be detected.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com