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ST. LOUIS — Health officials on Friday reported the first Missouri case of the omicron variant of the coronavirus, discovered in a St. Louis resident who had recently traveled domestically.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notified the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services of a sample presumed positive for the variant. The sample was sequenced by a commercial laboratory and awaits federal confirmation.

In response, local and state health officials renewed the call on Friday for vaccinations and vigilant protective measures.

“Unfortunately, this continues to be the natural course of this pandemic, and we will continue to see variants,� St. Louis Health Director Dr. Mati Hlatshwayo Davis said in a news conference on Friday. “Our goal globally needs to be herd immunity ... (or) variants will continue to rise.�

She called for calm and asked the public for patience to give scientists time to learn more about the variant.

The omicron variant has been discovered in at least six states: Nebraska, Minnesota, Colorado, California, New York and Hawaii. It was first reported to the World Health Organization from South Africa on Nov. 24. At least three dozen countries have reported omicron infections.

St. Louis County Executive Sam Page on Monday warned that it was a matter of time before the omicron variant was detected in the region.

Local health officials on Friday said many unknowns surround the omicron variant, which has dozens of mutations compared with other strains. For instance, it’s unclear how easily it is transmitted compared with the delta variant, how effectively vaccines and boosters can protect against it, and whether it leads to “the same, better or worse health outcomes, once someone gets infected,� said Christopher Ave, the director of communications for the St. Louis County Department of Public Health.

“There’s some urgent questions out there,� he said.

The emergence of a new variant like omicron provides “yet another reason to do the things that we’ve been advising� — like getting vaccinations and booster shots and wearing masks in public, Ave said.

“All these things have been proven to reduce transmission,� he said. “There is no debate in any serious circle about the effectiveness of those steps.�

Dr. Alex Garza, co-chief of the St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force, on Friday called vaccination “our No. 1 weapon.� Ultimately, he said, vaccinations are the long-run solution needed to stop the treadmill of new variants that emerge after the virus is allowed to keep spreading and mutating.

The “cycle keeps going� with each new host in a chain of transmission, Garza explained — affording the virus new chances to mutate with each round of reproduction. Only massive vaccination efforts can end the pattern “of trudging along with these different variants.�

The delta variant is predominant in Missouri, representing more than 99% of the cases, Missouri health director Donald Kauerauf said on Friday.

But initial reports from South Africa suggest that the omicron variant is more transmissible than others, Garza said, leading to a “common perception� that omicron will most likely supplant delta as the dominant strain of the virus.

“It’s going to grow. There’s no way around that,� he said. “But how fast that occurs is still a question.�

Doctors will likely learn in the next few weeks how well the current vaccines can help people withstand the new variant, Garza said. Though he noted that a “bright spot� of COVID vaccines is their ability to be adjusted to new variants.

But our understanding of omicron’s growth will come with a lag, Garza said. Samples of COVID tests from around Missouri are sent to a state lab for genomic sequencing and analysis. And researchers who track new strains by examining wastewater are days behind on such analyses.

There are well-known strategies, such as masking and social distancing, that can keep businesses running and minimize social disruptions, said Elvin Geng, a professor of infectious diseases at Washington University. But that relies on politicians, and the public, getting on the same page, he said, instead of squabbling about who’s allowed to order a mask mandate.

“We have a lot of collective strife,� Geng said.

The St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force reported Friday that new hospital admissions increased from 54 to 64. The seven-day average of hospital admissions increased from 51 Thursday to 52 Friday, and the seven-day average for hospitalizations grew from 363 to 377. The figures lag by two days.

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to include the byline of reporter Bryce Gray, of the Post-Dispatch.