NYC Anime Convention in Javits Center in November not likely Omicron superspreader, says new CDC study

The New York City Anime convention held last November in the Javits Center, was most likely not a superspreader event for omicron, according to a new study from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Scare stories had abounded after one of the first people – a Minnesota man who attended the convention – known to have tested positive for the Omicron variant in the US had been found to have attended the 53,000-delegate convention organised by LeftField Media. Among attendees of the traditional Anime showcase of the best of Japanese pop culture who were tested at the time, the CDC said, “evidence of widespread transmission during the event was not identified.” The CDC study results also now indicate that a combination of good air filtration, widespread vaccination and indoor mask wearing had in fact helped prevent the Anime convention from becoming a superspreader event. The percentage of attendee tests returning positive was similar to the general share of positive tests across New York City around the same time, the CDC study revealed. Moreover, the few positive samples were largely of the Delta variant, not Omicron. Convention-goers who did become infected were more likely than those who tested negative to have gone to bars, nightclubs or karaoke clubs, the study added. The CDC study found no evidence of widespread transmission of Omicron at the convention beyond a cluster of the Minnesota participant’s close contacts. Among results obtained for 4,560 attendees, 2.6% tested positive, according to the CDC. Of 20 specimens analysed genetically, 15 cases were linked to Delta. The remaining five were Omicron and all part of the cluster of close contacts. The report effectively highlights the effect that prevention measures likely had on limiting spread in the large indoor gathering. Ventilation at the event and requirements for attendees to be vaccinated and masked likely helped keep transmission low, the CDC study noted. The findings suggest that transmission primarily occurred in indoor unmasked activities outside of official convention events, the CDC said.