Two Democratic Senators Positive For COVID-19 Despite Being Fully Vaccinated With Boosters

Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., have tested positive for COVID-19 despite being fully vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19.

In a Twitter post uploaded Sunday, Sen. Warren said she was diagnosed with COVID-19 and that she is only experiencing mild symptoms. She also added that she was grateful for the vaccines for protecting her against severe illness.

“I regularly test for COVID & while I tested negative earlier this week, today I tested positive with a breakthrough case,” she wrote in a tweet.

Sen. Booker, who also announced his COVID-19 diagnosis in a tweet, said he tested positive for COVID-19 after feeling symptoms Saturday.

“I learned today that I tested positive for COVID-19 after first feeling symptoms on Saturday. Fortunately, my symptoms have been relatively mild,” Booker said in a statement posted Sunday night.

Both Democrats had received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccines as well as a booster dose. It is unclear which variant infected Warren and Booker. However, their positive tests come as health officials across the U.S. are warning that the country may see another wave of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations as the more transmissible Omicron variant spreads.

On Sunday, outgoing director of the National Institutes of Health Dr. Francis Collins told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that cases are likely to surge over the next few weeks and may reach up to a million new Omicron cases a day.

The prediction exceeds the record of 250,000 new infections per day set in January this year.

“We’re just holding our breath to see how severe this will be,” Collins said.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, also warned that the Omicron variant could become the dominant strain in the U.S. During an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” he noted that it already accounts for 50% of COVID-19 infections reported in parts of the nation.

As of Saturday, the U.S. reported an average of 126,967 new cases per day. In comparison, health officials only reported an average of 70,000 new cases daily at the beginning of November.

The United States has so far reported a total of 50,846,828 COVID-19 cases and 806,439 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.