"It was inevitable," Austin Mayor Steve Adler said of the detection. "It is now more important than ever to get the vaccine and your booster shots."
The University of Texas at Austin Health Services notified APH of the results, though it will take several days for genetic sequencing to confirm with certainty that the three patients have the omicron variant, the release said.
The three people infected have not traveled internationally, which offers a "strong indication" of community transmission of the omicron variant in the area, the release said.
Dr. Desmar Walkes, Austin-Travis County health authority, said the community has already dealt with the consequences of COVID-19's delta variant's spread.
"Now we have the omicron variant,” Walkes said. “Our mission and our approach remain the same. Get vaccinated; get boosters; stay home if you are sick; wear your masks to protect yourself, your loved ones and our hospital systems from this virus.”
The omicron variant will likely spread more quickly than the first COVID-19 variant to spread in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, though health experts do not yet know how the speed of omicron's transmission will compare to delta's.
Health researchers expect vaccines will protect against hospitalizations and death from the omicron variant, but they also expect breakthrough infections in people who are already vaccinated, according to the CDC. The CDC needs more data to determine the severity of omicron symptoms compared to previous variants.
