New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker has tested positive for coronavirus, the Democrat announced on Sunday.
The fully vaccinated and boostered congressman posted the news on Twitter.
“I learned today that I tested positive for COVID-19 after first feeling symptoms on Saturday,” he wrote. “My symptoms are relatively mild. I’m beyond grateful to have received two doses of vaccine and, more recently, a booster — I’m certain that without them I would be doing much worse.”
“I encourage everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated and boosted,” he wrote.
Booker’s announcement came the same day that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) announced that she, too, had COVID-19.
The two breakthrough cases come amid a surge in coronavirus cases in the U.S. as the omicron variant, deemed 70 times more contagious than the highly transmissible delta variant, becomes more prevalent.
Omicron has numerous mutations that may help it do an end run around vaccine protections. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s head epidemiologist, said last week that the winter will be long and tough, especially for the unvaccinated, and that we most likely will not see an end to the pandemic before spring 2022.
