POSITIVE: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gets breakthrough COVID infection
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has tested positive for the coronavirus, forcing the Speaker to cancel her scheduled weekly presser. The announcement comes as House prepares to leave for its spring recess.
Per her Deputy Chief-of-Staff, Drew Hammill, Madame Speaker is asymptomatic. Hammill credited Pelosi’s vaccine status for her lack of symptoms in his tweet Thursday morning, acknowledging her positive test.
After testing negative this week, Speaker Pelosi received a positive test result for COVID-19 and is currently asymptomatic. The Speaker is fully vaccinated and boosted, and is thankful for the robust protection the vaccine has provided. (1/2)
— Drew Hammill (@Drew_Hammill) April 7, 2022
The 82-year-old Pelosi is the latest of almost a dozen Democratic leaders and politicians to announce testing positive for the virus this week alone, including Attorney General Merrick Garland, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA), and Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX), brother of former presidential candidate, Julian Castro.
Just two days before testing positive, Madame Speaker was at the White House for former President Obama’s visit to commemorate the passing of the Affordable Care Act. Obama himself tested positive less than a month ago. He shared his status via Twitter and encouraged vaccination against the virus.
I just tested positive for COVID. I’ve had a scratchy throat for a couple days, but am feeling fine otherwise. Michelle and I are grateful to be vaccinated and boosted, and she has tested negative.
It’s a reminder to get vaccinated if you haven’t already, even as cases go down.
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) March 13, 2022
Pelosi was seen hugging the former President on Tuesday. Though the CDC doesn’t require vaccinated persons to quarantine if exposed, I reached out to the former President via press inquiry on his website. Asking if he had plans to quarantine, and if there was concern about spreading the virus.
I’m awaiting a reply.
Speaker Pelosi has been a proponent of the efficacy of the coronavirus vaccine and, in December of 2020, received her first shot and shared it via Twitter.
Today, with confidence in science & at the direction of the Office of the Attending Physician, I received the COVID-19 vaccine. As the vaccine is being distributed, we must all continue mask wearing, social distancing & other science-based steps to save lives & crush the virus. pic.twitter.com/tijVCSnJd7
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) December 18, 2020
While there are no guarantees, it has been proven that those vaccinated stand a much less likely chance of serious complications. The CDC released a report affirming that for those 65 and over, the chance of hospitalization is around six percent.
According to the CDC website:
Getting vaccinated prevents severe illness, hospitalizations, and death. People 65 and older who received both doses of either Pfizer or Moderna vaccines showed a 94% reduced risk of COVID-19 related hospitalization. Unvaccinated people should get vaccinated and continue masking until they are fully vaccinated. With the Delta variant, this is more urgent than ever.
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