COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — The Ohio Department of Health has reported that the omicron variant has been detected in the state of Ohio with the first two cases identified in central Ohio.

The first two cases of the variant have been confirmed in Ohio following genomic sequencing by the Ohio State University Laboratory.

The two cases were detected in adult males with both testing positive on a PCR test on Dec. 7. Both patients are experiencing mild symptoms and have not been hospitalized.

“We have known that it would only be a matter of time until a case of omicron was detected in Ohio. The CDC believes that this variant has likely been circulating in the U.S. since November,” said Ohio Department of Health Director Bruce Vanderhoff, MD, MBA.

These two positive tests of omicron reflect about 0.2% of all tests sequenced at the OSU lab – the remainder of which were delta.  

As of Saturday, Dec. 11, the Ohio Department of Health reports a total of 1,776,439 (+8,072) cases, leading to 90,045 (+313) hospitalizations and 11,150 (+35) admissions into the ICU.