There have been no identified cases of the new COVID-19 variant, known as the omicron, in Colorado, but the state is closely monitoring for it. 

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment samples and sequences a random number of positive tests statewide to track which COVID-19 strains are dominant and to monitor for new ones.

“New variants of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) have been shown to spread globally over time,” a state health department spokesperson said in an email Monday. “In Colorado, the CDPHE Laboratory and some private laboratories conduct genetic sequencing on human samples that are positive for SARS-CoV-2 from around the state.”

In collaboration with wastewater utilities, the state also monitors levels of COVID-19 virus particles found in wastewater. Officials can identify “markers consistent with the presence of COVID-19 variants, including omicron, through wastewater monitoring,” the state health department said in a news release late Monday.

Nearly half of people who develop the disease have detectable virus particles in their stool before, during and after their infection, including those without symptoms, the release said.

The spokesperson said a health department official would hold a media availability in the coming days to answer questions about the variant.

The first U.S. case of the alpha variant was first identified in Colorado, and delta — the more transmissible, long-dominant strain — was so present in Mesa County earlier this year that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a report on its impacts there.

Delta has accounted for nearly every new COVID-19 infection here since the summer, playing a key role in the months-long rise in cases statewide that began in mid-July and continues, albeit with some plateaus, through today.

COVID-19 hospitalizations drop in Colorado, but impact of holiday remains unknown

Read more of the latest COVID-19 coverage at gazette.com/coronavirus.