MINNEAPOLIS — Just last week, the Minnesota Department of Health identified the first case of the omicron variant in the state. At the time, patient zero was identified as a 30-year-old male who had traveled to a convention in New York City.
We've all been there. Attending a first big event in a very very long time can be exciting.
For Minnesotan Pete McGinn, that first event was an anime convention in New York City.
"First event in a very long time, I was able to meet up with some friends I met over the internet," McGinn said. "And we got to meet up together and we share a hobby and a passion with anime, and we happened to go to this event and have a really good time."
However, on his way back home, he received some unwelcome news just days before Thanksgiving.
"A person in my party was feeling a little sick and went and got tested, and found out they were positive," McGinn said. "So with Thanksgiving coming up, I decided I was gonna get tested just to make sure — I was vaccinated, I had my booster — I thought it'd be negative, and lo and behold, I took an at-home test and it was positive. And then I went to the convention center [in Minneapolis] and got a PCR test and that also came back positive."
In terms of finding out that he was "patient zero"? MDH called him a few days after he received the initial call with regular COVID protocols like quarantining.
"Two days after that call, I got a call from the director of [Minnesota] Department of Health, 'Hey not only do you have COVID, you're the first person in Minnesota to have the variant.'"
McGinn says he was shocked because he only felt sluggish on the day he returned home. He said he chalked that up to tiredness from travel and the convention.
The convention and the size of it though did complicate things, in terms of contact tracing.
Anime NYC released a statement saying they were notified of a positive COVID patient on Dec. 2, and urged everyone to be tested.
"It was a few hours of conversations, dating back to early November, and everything I've done from there up until the con itself," McGinn explained in terms of what MDH folks asked him about over the second phone call. "Where I was, at what time, who I was with, locations, addresses and also getting contact information that was in my party."
McGinn said he did worry slightly about people being angry at him for being the first identified person in Minnesota with omicron. However, he said he chose to talk about it openly, in the hopes that others will be open too. He also credits his mild symptoms to his being fully vaccinated, and having received a booster dose.
"Talking about it, and being open and saying, 'Hey I followed the rules, sometimes it happens,'" he said. "I did these necessary steps, I am able to be healthy again, I'm able to return to work."