Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Aug 1;5(8):e2227241.
doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.27241.

Awareness of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant Infection Among Adults With Recent COVID-19 Seropositivity

Sandy Y Joung  1 , Joseph E Ebinger  1 , Nancy Sun  1 , Yunxian Liu  1 , Min Wu  1 , Amber B Tang  2 , John C Prostko  3 , Edwin C Frias  3 , James L Stewart  3 , Kimia Sobhani  4 , Susan Cheng  1
Affiliations

Awareness of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant Infection Among Adults With Recent COVID-19 Seropositivity

Sandy Y Joung et al. JAMA Netw Open. .

Abstract

Importance: Some individuals who were infected by the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant may have been completely unaware of their infectious status while the virus was actively transmissible.

Objective: To examine awareness of infectious status among individuals during the recent Omicron variant surge in a diverse and populous urban region of Los Angeles County.

Design, setting, and participants: This cohort study analyzed the records of adult employees and patients of an academic medical center who were enrolled in a longitudinal COVID-19 serological study in Los Angeles County, California. These participants had 2 or more serial anti-nucleocapsid IgG (IgG-N) antibody measurements at least 1 month apart, with the first occurring after the end of a regional Delta variant surge (September 15, 2021) and a subsequent one occurring after the start of a regional Omicron variant surge (December 15, 2021). Adults with evidence of new SARS-CoV-2 infection occurring during the Omicron variant surge period through May 4, 2022, were included in the present study sample.

Exposures: Recent Omicron variant infection as evidenced by SARS-CoV-2 seroconversion.

Main outcomes and measures: Awareness of recent SARS-CoV-2 infection was ascertained from review of self-reported health updates, medical records, and COVID-19 testing data.

Results: Of the 210 participants (median [range] age, 51 (23-84) years; 136 women [65%]) with serological evidence of recent Omicron variant infection, 44% (92) demonstrated awareness of any recent Omicron variant infection and 56% (118) reported being unaware of their infectious status. Among those who were unaware, 10% (12 of 118) reported having had any symptoms, which they attributed to a common cold or other non-SARS-CoV-2 infection. In multivariable analyses that accounted for demographic and clinical characteristics, participants who were health care employees of the medical center were more likely than nonemployees to be aware of their recent Omicron variant infection (adjusted odds ratio, 2.46; 95% CI, 1.30-4.65).

Conclusions and relevance: Results of this study suggest that more than half of adults with recent Omicron variant infection were unaware of their infectious status and that awareness was higher among health care employees than nonemployees, yet still low overall. Unawareness may be a highly prevalent factor associated with rapid person-to-person transmission within communities.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Mssrs Prostko, Frias, and Dr Stewart reported being employees of Abbott Laboratories. Dr Sobhani reported receiving nonfinancial support from Abbott Diagnostics during the conduct of the study and personal fees from Abbott Diagnostics outside the submitted work. Dr Cheng reported receiving personal fees from Zogenix outside the submitted work. No other disclosures were reported.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Awareness of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant Infection
Of the 210 adults with contemporaneously available self-reported, medical, and testing data on SARS-CoV-2 infection, only 92 (44%) demonstrated awareness of any recent Omicron variant infection (Table) and 118 (56%) were unaware of their infectious status. Rates of awareness were generally similar across demographic and clinical characteristics.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.. Unadjusted Logistic Regression Analysis of Association Between Preexisting Characteristics and Awareness of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant Infection
COPD indicates chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; OR, odds ratio.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.. Multivariable-Adjusted Logistic Regression Analysis of Association Between Preexisting Characteristics and Awareness of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant Infection
All variables were considered as candidate variables, and P = .10 was the criterion for model entry or exit in the stepwise selection. OR indicates odds ratio.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Saxena SK, Kumar S, Ansari S, et al. . Characterization of the novel SARS-CoV-2 Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant of concern and its global perspective. J Med Virol. 2022;94(4):1738-1744. doi:10.1002/jmv.27524 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Garcia-Beltran WF, St Denis KJ, Hoelzemer A, et al. . mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine boosters induce neutralizing immunity against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant. Cell. 2022;185(3):457-466.e4. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2021.12.033 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Madewell ZJ, Yang Y, Longini IM Jr, Halloran ME, Dean NE. Household secondary attack rates of SARS-CoV-2 by variant and vaccination status: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Netw Open. 2022;5(4):e229317. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.9317 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Baker JM, Nakayama JY, O’Hegarty M, et al. . SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.529 (Omicron) variant transmission within households—four U.S. jurisdictions, November 2021-February 2022. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2022;71(9):341-346. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm7109e1 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Collie S, Champion J, Moultrie H, Bekker LG, Gray G. Effectiveness of BNT162b2 vaccine against Omicron variant in South Africa. N Engl J Med. 2022;386(5):494-496. doi:10.1056/NEJMc2119270 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

Supplementary concepts