While “Omicron” sounds like a name that would be at home at an expo dedicated to anime, officials in New York say the less-fun version, the COVID-19 variant of the same name, may have paid a visit to the recent AnimeNYC convention, which ran from November 19 through 21.
In a statement, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio noted that a visitor to the festival who returned home to Minnesota had tested positive for the latest variant. That person’s symptoms were mild and have since resolved, the mayor said.
The 53,000 people who attended the convention at New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center — home to the annual New York Auto Show and New York Comic Con, among others — are being urged to get tested “immediately.”
“We are working closely with the State and the CDC, as well as the Javits Center’s event organizers, and our Test and Trace Corps will be contacting conference attendees,” De Blasio’s statement said.
As part of his controversial Key2NYC program, everyone attending the event — or basically any other event in the Big Apple — had to be masked and double vaccinated.
Incidentally, Peter Tatara, the founder of AnimeNYC, recently sent an apology to guests for long lines and crowded conditions at the event. “Everything was packed much, much more,” he said. “We underestimated how many fans would come early and spend every moment of the weekend in the convention center….This was Anime NYC’s plan failing to meet our fans’ demand.”
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