Cory Booker, United States Senator from New Jersey, said he tested positive for COVID-19 in a social media post on Sunday. The 52-year-old is a member of the Democratic party.
His post read, “I learned today that I tested positive for COVID-19 after first feeling symptoms on Saturday. Fortunately, my symptoms are relatively mild.” It is unclear if the legislator was infected by the omicron variant.
He further added that he had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and also received his booster dose, “I’m certain that without them I would be doing much worse”, he said while referring to his inoculation status.
Earlier that day, Elizabeth Warren– a fellow member of the Democratic party– also tested positive for the virus in a “breakthrough case”, the Massachusetts lawmaker said.
Warren wrote on Twitter, “I regularly test for COVID & while I tested negative earlier this week, today I tested positive with a breakthrough case. Thankfully, I am only experiencing mild symptoms & am grateful for the protection provided against serious illness that comes from being vaccinated & boosted.”
The news comes as the United States is facing a significant spike in new daily COVID cases as the omicron variant of the coronavirus tightens its grip.
Dr Rochelle Walensky, the director of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, revealed the country’s updated COVID stats on Friday. She announced that the new daily average for the United States is 119,500 cases.
When compared to a week before, the cases of hospitalisations have gone up by nearly 4% while COVID related deaths have bumped up by 8%.
The COVID-19 omicron variant is “just raging around the world,” the White House’s top medical advisor Anthony Fauci said Sunday as President Joe Biden prepared to issue “a stark warning of what the winter will look like” for unvaccinated Americans.
