My son was exposed to omicron variant at NYC event (Opinion)

I was surprised to see an email from Anime NYC in my inbox since this event had already come and gone. My son, while not a huge anime fan, has a friend who is and they went to a convention last month at the Jacob Javits Center.

Turns out the email was not pushing out notifications on future animecons nor was it conducting a survey.

It was to inform us that someone from Minnesota who was there has now tested positive for the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus. We were told not to be surprised if we heard next from the NYC Health Department’s contact tracing.

Really? 50,000 people attended this event that weekend. You think all 50,000 will be hunted down? Doubt it.

Next I saw the story had already made it to NJ1015.com. According to reports the man began experiencing symptoms the day after attending. For that reason the Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said it’s “perhaps the most likely” the guy contracted it at the convention which if true would mean at least one other positive case was there too.

So is my household panicking? Not a chance. For several reasons. First of all, 50,000 people is a huge number and it’s unlikely my son was ever within a few feet of a positive person for enough time for the virus to transmit.

Also all attendees had to show proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID-19 test and had to wear masks.

But beyond all that, the biggest reason I’m not concerned has to do with something the Star Ledger’s Paul Mulshine brought up in a column this week. He’s been talking with experts about omicron. Jeffrey Singer at the Cato Institute says on viruses, “Generally speaking, those that are more contagious are less lethal.”

That seems to be the case with the omicron variant. Angelique Coetzee, chairwoman of the South African Medical Association says, “It presents mild disease with symptoms being sore muscles and tiredness for a day or two not feeling well.…. There are no prominent symptoms.”

Well there you go folks. So why panic? It’s a remote chance my son was infected to begin with. Even if he were it’s looking like a remote chance of any serious illness.

As the world bites its nails over omicron Mulshine points out the current Delta variant seems to do more damage. Don’t get me wrong. COVID-19 is real. More than three quarters of a million people have died from it. But for most people it won’t be bad. For my son and for all of us let’s not worry until we have a real reason to.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski. Any opinions expressed are Jeff Deminski's own.