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CDC Zeroes in on Anime Convention to Understand Omicron Variant

Little is known about the omicron variant at the moment, with researchers around the world working to glean early details from its spread

Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images Costumed people attend Anime NYC at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City on November 20, 2021.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reached out to tens of thousands of people who attended a recent anime convention in Manhattan as it works to understand the risks of the COVID-19 omicron variant.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a White House media briefing Tuesday that the agency is looking at the convention, which ran from Nov. 19-21 and was attended by a Minnesota man who later tested for omicron, as a way to collect data on the transmissibility of the variant. 

Little is known about the omicron variant at the moment, with researchers around the world working to glean early details from its spread.

Data from the anime convention could be particularly useful to understanding how the omicron variant will affect people in the United States.

Read the full story at NBCNews.com.

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