(C) Minnesota Reformer
This unaltered story was originally published on MinnesotaReformer.com [1]
Licensed under Creative Commons License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 [2]
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Gov. Tim Walz and family test positive for COVID-19
By: ['Max Nesterak', 'More From Author', '- December'], Minnesota Reformer
Date: 2022-01
Gov. Tim Walz announced Tuesday that he and his wife, Gwen, tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday following a positive test result from their teenage son.
“Thankfully, my son has mild symptoms and Gwen and I have no symptoms,” Walz wrote in a statement. “My son is vaccinated, and Gwen and I are vaccinated and have received our booster shots, and I am confident that these vaccines are protecting my family and me from serious illness.”
Walz said he will continue working from home while he and his family isolate until they receive a negative test result. In his statement, Walz urged Minnesotans to get vaccinated and boosted as well as tested before they travel for Christmas and New Year’s.
Minnesotans, I want to share that yesterday, my 9th grade son tested positive for COVID-19. Gwen and I were both tested that same day, and after initially testing negative in the morning, last night we received positive COVID-19 tests. pic.twitter.com/j2BhAiT5mN — Governor Tim Walz (@GovTimWalz) December 21, 2021
The news of Walz’s breakthrough infection comes as Minnesota is experiencing one of its highest rates of infection since the start of the pandemic, with COVID-19 patients filling up intensive care units and nurses pleading with the public to get vaccinated.
The surge is driven by the new, highly contagious omicron variant, which became the dominant strain of the virus in the United States less than three weeks after first being detected. Omicron now accounts for more than 73% of positive COVID-19 cases nationwide.
Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan also tested positive for COVID-19 in October despite being fully vaccinated.
State breakthrough data last week showed a total of 125,076 COVID infections in nearly 3.5 million fully vaccinated Minnesotans — about 3.8% of that population. Among those who were fully vaccinated, 5,026 Minnesotans have been hospitalized (.151% of those vaccinated) and 938 have died (.028% of those vaccinated). Nearly a million Minnesotans have been infected since the beginning of the pandemic and more than 10,000 have died.
Walz said last month he would not declare another state of emergency to deal with a new surge in COVID-19 infections, citing political fallout from his use of executive powers to try to contain the pandemic and Republican threats to axe his health commissioner.
Walz’s emergency powers ended in July.
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