Sen. Chris Coons, Pentagon staffers have Covid, Kamala Harris is unfavorable

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., mentioned Thursday that he examined optimistic for Covid-19, turning into the tenth member of Congress to contract the virus this month because the fast unfold of the omicron variant sparks a surge in instances throughout the nation.

Additionally Thursday, the Pentagon mentioned seven staffers examined optimistic for Covid after accompanying Deputy Protection Secretary Kathleen Hicks on a visit final week to navy installations in Michigan, Colorado, Hawaii, California and Nebraska. Hicks herself “examined unfavorable, as have members of her speedy private workers,” mentioned Pentagon press secretary John Kirby.

Coons’ disclosure comes a day after Home Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., mentioned he examined optimistic for the coronavirus. Clyburn, 81, mentioned that he’s asymptomatic. He added he’s totally vaccinated and had a booster shot in September.

Clyburn was with President Joe Biden on Friday throughout winter commencement ceremonies at South Carolina State College in Orangeburg, S.C.

Biden, 79, examined unfavorable for Covid on Wednesday, the third check he has acquired this week. On Monday, Biden acquired a check after studying he had been in touch with a White Home staffer who had examined optimistic.

Biden’s shut brush with Covid was not the one one on the White Home this week. Vice President Kamala Harris additionally examined unfavorable after being in shut contact with a staffer who examined optimistic for Covid, her workplace mentioned Wednesday night time.

Coons has not been in proximity to Biden, his fellow Delaware Democrat, prior to now week, based on a spokesman for the senator.

The string of optimistic exams for members of Congress, together with the Pentagon staffers, underscores the elevated danger authorities officers face as they perform their duties amid the rise in instances from the closely mutated omicron variant. Whereas Biden and lots of congressional leaders face a better danger of extreme sickness due to their age, vaccines and booster photographs do cut back odds of hospitalization.

Coons in a press release mentioned that he has “minimal signs up to now” and is “optimistic I’ll recuperate nicely after isolating and following [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] pointers.”

“Like hundreds of thousands of different households, it appears we’ll even be wrestling with one other vacation spent on Zoom and cancelled plans for journey or gathering,” mentioned Coons, who urged folks to get examined often and to “get vaccinated and boosted if you have not already.” 

On Sunday, two different Democratic senators, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Cory Booker of New Jersey, mentioned they examined optimistic for Covid. Each senators mentioned they have been experiencing delicate signs.

For the reason that starting of December, seven Home of Representatives members have examined optimistic for Covid: Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., Jason Crow, D-Colo., Matt Cartwright, D-Penn., Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., Barbara Lee, D-Calif., Antonio Delgado, D-N.Y., and Clyburn.

Covid’s omicron variant was first detected in southern Africa in late November, however has quickly grow to be essentially the most dominant pressure in the USA. The variant made up 73% of the sequenced Covid instances within the U.S., based on CDC information printed Monday.

Three new research point out that the variant could also be much less more likely to end in hospitalization, and seems to end in milder signs than earlier variants.