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Articles by Tom Howell Jr.

Patients wait to receive a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot at a mobile vaccination station on 59th Street below Central Park, Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021, in New York. Health officials say multiple cases of the omicron coronavirus variant have been detected in New York, including a man who attended an anime convention in Manhattan in late November and tested positive for the variant when he returned home to Minnesota. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

NYC to expand vaccine mandate to the private sector Dec. 27

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio went all-in on vaccine mandates Monday, announcing a first-in-the-nation COVID-19 requirement for the entire private sector that will take effect after Christmas and mere days before Mayor-elect Eric Adams takes over City Hall.

December 6, 2021
Passengers, some wearing masks, line up to board a taxi at the Baragwanath taxi rank in Soweto, South Africa, Thursday Dec. 2, 2021. South Africa launched an accelerated vaccination campaign to combat a dramatic rise in confirmed cases of COVID-19 a week after the omicron variant was detected in the country. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Minn. reports omicron case in traveler to NYC convention

Minnesota on Thursday reported an omicron case in a person who recently traveled to New York City for an anime convention, marking the second known instance of the variant first detected in South Africa and another sign the strain is probably lurking in several corners of the U.S.

December 2, 2021
A man is tested for COVID-19 in Abuja, Nigeria, Monday Nov. 29, 2021. Nigeria has detected its first case of the omicron coronavirus variant in a sample it collected in October, weeks before South Africa alerted the world about the variant last week, the country's national public health institute said Wednesday, Dec 1, 2021. (AP Photo/Gbemiga Olamikan, File)

Nigeria finds samples of omicron variant from October

Nigeria on Wednesday said it found a coronavirus sample with the omicron variant from October, suggesting the strain was circulating far before it burst into view last week in a cluster within South Africa.

December 1, 2021
Pedestrians pass the New York Stock Exchange, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

Omicron variant spooks Wall Street; Dow takes a tumble

Financial markets reeled Tuesday after vaccine-maker Moderna predicted the omicron variant would inflict a "material drop" in their COVID-19 shots' power and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the viral strain could produce "downside" risks to in-person work and supply chains.

November 30, 2021
James Robson, a biomedical engineering graduate student, holds a swab and specimen vial in the new COVID-19, on-campus testing lab, Thursday, July 23, 2020, at Boston University in Boston. The United States has improved its surveillance system for tracking new coronavirus variants such as omicron, boosting its capacity by tens of thousands of samples since early 2021. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) **FiLE**

FDA to the public: We will be nimble in response to omicron

The Food and Drug Administration assured the public Tuesday it is "actively working" with drugmakers and global partners to understand whether the omicron variant of the coronavirus can puncture existing defenses and if updated products are needed.

November 30, 2021