Tuesday marks one year since Queens-based nurse Sandra Lindsay became the first American to take an authorized dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Since then, New York City has dealt with multiple waves, with large numbers of cases but fewer fatalities than its first surge. But the delta variant continues to plague the city, and now, more than a dozen cases of the omicron variant have also been reported in the boroughs.

The city's public health experts say they believe omicron is circulating in communities, and they're working hard to find these highly transmissible infections before they harm people and overburden the health care system. Morning Edition host Michael Hill spoke with Dr. Ted Long, a primary care physician and executive director of the New York City Test & Trace Corps, about how this public health initiative is looking for omicron cases, including those connected to an early outbreak at a Manhattan anime festival.

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