CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Health officials reported late Wednesday that three confirmed cases of the omicron variant of COVID-19 have officially turned up in Nueces County.
According to Public Health Director Annette Rodriguez of the Corpus Christi-Nueces County Public Health District, results of genome sequencing on the three positive tests in question were received Wednesday. All three patients were male, and all three had been fully vaccinated but had not received their boosters.
According to Rodriguez, two of the males were between the ages of 20-30. One of them was between the age of 60-70. One patient has fully recovered and is back in the workplace. The other two are pending a follow up investigation.
"For the whole month of December, we had 2,014 cases of COVID-19 here in Nueces County," Rodriguez said. "But if you look at January for the last four days, or the first four days of January of 2022, we've exceeded the number of cases that we had for the whole month of December."
Confirmation of omicron arriving in Nueces County comes almost a month to the day when Rodriguez warned Coastal Bend residents that the variant is probably already in the area.
Rodriguez said all three patients became ill in December and were tested then. Since they were confirmed breakthrough cases, meaning they contracted COVID-19 despite already being fully vaccinated, their results were sent to the State for genome sequencing to determine which variant of COVID-19 the three men contracted.
"The patients were all fully vaccinated with their primary series when they became ill in December," Rodriguez said.
Because our public health district only sends up to five-percent of positive COVID-19 tests out for genome sequencing, and that testing can take from two to four weeks to complete, she said it was just a matter of time before we officially confirmed omicron in the area.
Health officials continue to urge everyone to get their vaccines and boosters if they have not already.
"If you look at December 24th, Christmas Eve, you can see that we had 25 people in the hospital fighting with COVID-19 infections," Rodriguez said. "If you look at the last one from yesterday, from January the 4th, we have 78 individuals hospitalized here in Nueces County with COVID-19."
3News will keep you updated as more information becomes available.
For the latest updates on coronavirus in the Coastal Bend, click here.
More from 3News on KIIITV.com:
- Some Coastal Bend school districts postpone classroom return due to uptick in COVID-19 cases
- City leaders on search for new health department employees
- Where to get a free COVID-19 test in Nueces County
- Coastal Bend 9-year-old looking to clean up area beaches as her New Year's resolution
- '100% this year': CCPD breaks down efforts into solving homicide cases of 2021
- Here are the top 10 most clicked on stories of 2021
Want to send us a news tip?
Put your name and contact information below so we can get in touch with you about your story should we have questions or need more information. We realize some stories are sensitive in nature. Let us know if you'd like to remain anonymous.
If you do not have a photo/video to submit, just click "OK" to skip that prompt.