This Christmas party reveals a small clue in the omicron COVID-19 variant spread

The Norwegian Christmas tree stands with its lights turned on after a lighting ceremony in Trafalgar Square in London on Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021. A Christmas party in Norway might offer a clue, though anecdotal, about how the omicron variant may spread among fully vaccinated people. | Matt Dunham, Associated Press

A Christmas party in Oslo, Norway, offered a smal clue into the omicron variant’s spread

A Christmas party in Norway might offer a clue, though anecdotal, about how the omicron variant may spread among fully vaccinated people.

The renewable-energy company Scatec AS A, which is based in Norway, recently hosted an annual holiday party among fully vaccinated people, who had to take a rapid test the day before the party, according to The Wall Street Journal.

• The party included about 120 people, some of whom had returned from South Africa, where the company has an ongoing project.

There were 60 coronavirus cases found after the party, Dr. Tine Ravlo, a chief physician involved with the cases, told The New York Times.

• Somewhere between 15 and 20 people tested positive for the omicron variant.
• “We are expecting more of them to likely be Omicron infections,” Ravlo said.
• It is unclear if the patients suffered from mild symptoms or not.

This small party represents what the omicron variant could potentially bring to the world if it continues to spread. It fits along with other reports that fully vaccinated people can be infected by the coronavirus variant, even if cases have been mild so far, as I wrote for the Deseret News.

• For example, Dr. Angelique Coetzee, who sounded the alarm on the omicron variant, told BBC Sunday that fully vaccinated omicron patients have only showed mild COVID-19 symptoms so far.