KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Shelby County in West Tennessee reported two cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus on Saturday. The variant is considered a "variant of concern" by the World Health Organization, and it's only a matter of time before it's detected in East Tennessee.
"It will be in Knox County, it's just the way that this variant is moving," said Roberta Sturm, an epidemiologist at the Knox County Health Department.
Covenant Health infectious disease expert Dr. John Adams said Omicron may cause milder illness.
"The indications so far are maybe a bit more transmissible than delta, but it may be a bit less severe," Dr. Adams said.
However, he said those are early indications and he needs more data to confirm.
Dr. Adams said the virus in the Omicron variant is a different shape on the outside than the first iteration of the coronavirus and that's why there was early concern that the vaccines would not work.
"When you change that shape, the immune system may not recognize it," Dr. Adams said.
Evidence so far shows the Pfizer vaccine works against the Omicron variant.
"The Pfizer BioNTech vaccine is pretty good if you've had a booster," Dr. Adams said. "The immunity is less robust after only two doses."
"But that's not ineffective," Dr. Adams said. "It's still doing a good job of preventing severe disease from all of the various variants."
In Tennessee, active coronavirus cases are at their highest point since the summer surge, and increased by 5,001 between December 2 and December 9. That same increase took three days in July.
"I'd be a little bit reluctant to call it a surge," Sturm said. "We're seeing an increase, but it's a steady moving increase right now."
Sturm said the best way to prevent severe illness and death is the vaccine.
"It is not too late to get vaccinated," Sturm said. "Even having the first dose before the holidays would be really helpful."
"You specifically have the tools and you know what to do to help prevent the transmission of the virus," Sturm said.