Former President Barack Obama announced yesterday afternoon that he tested positive for Covid-19.
“I’ve had a scratchy throat for a couple of days, but am feeling fine otherwise,” he said on his official Twitter account.
Obama also said that his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, has tested negative, however, he did not mention whether either of his daughters Malia, 23, and Sasha, 20, were tested for the virus.
“Michelle and I are grateful to be vaccinated and boosted,” the former President said in a Facebook post. “It’s a good reminder that, even as cases go down, you should get vaccinated and boosted if you haven’t already to help prevent more serious symptoms and giving covid to others.”
Obama had recently returned to Washington, DC, after spending much of the winter in Hawaii. He tested positive in DC, a person close to him said.
The announcement came at a time when many impatient Americans were anxious to get the vaccine after it rolled out, but also when the Biden administration was struggling to get vaccine-hesitant Americans to get the jab.
The diagnosis makes Obama the second US President known to contract the virus after then-President Donald Trump announced he tested positive in October 2020, which was before vaccines were widely available in the US.
According to the Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 75.2 per cent of US adults are fully vaccinated and 47.7 per cent of the fully vaccinated have received a booster.
The CDC relaxed its guidelines for indoor masking in late February, taking a more holistic approach that meant the vast majority of Americans live in areas without the recommendation for indoor masking in public.
Resistance to vaccination and other public health measures against Covid is higher in Republican-run states.