'Get your shot': Hidalgo reminds residents to get vaccinated as omicron variant of COVID-19 virus touches down in Harris County

On Dec. 6, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo announced that the omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus has been detected in the county for the first time. 

"A woman in her 40s from NW Harris County with no recent travel history has tested positive for the omicron variant of COVID-19. The best way to protect ourselves and our community from this virus is to get vaccinated and boosted. Get your shot," Hidalgo wrote in a Dec. 6 Twitter post.

KHOU 11 News reported that according to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), this is the first recorded omicron case in the state of Texas. 

Dr. John Hellerstedt, DSHS commissioner, echoed Hidalgo's statement and recommended getting vaccinated, masks and other COVID-19 mitigation practices.

“It’s normal for viruses to mutate, and given how quickly omicron spread in southern Africa, we’re not surprised that it showed up here,” Dr. John Hellerstedt DSHS commissioner said, according to KHOU 11 News. “Getting vaccinated and continuing to use prevention strategies, including wearing a mask when you are around people you don’t live with, social distancing, hand-washing and getting tested when you have symptoms, will help slow the spread of the virus and help end the pandemic.”

Houston health officials said that the variant has been detected in wastewater at eight of the 39 wastewater plants in the city.

At this time, U.S. health officials said that although the omicron variant of the coronavirus is rapidly spreading, the delta variant of the virus is more dangerous and still continues to drive the main brunt of hospitalizations.

"Thus far, it does not look like there's a great degree of severity to it," President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN, according to KHOU 11 News. "But we have really got to be careful before we make any determinations that it is less severe or it really doesn't cause any severe illness, comparable to delta."

On Nov. 26, Hidalgo lowered the county's coronavirus threat level from orange "significant" to yellow "moderate" despite the emergence of a new COVID-19 variant, according to ABC 13 News. 

A decrease in cases, hospitalizations and positivity rates prompted the lowering of the threat level.