Page 13 - IAV Digital Magazine #542

Former President Barack Obama Tests Positive For Covid-19
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
By Arlette Saenz, CNN
(CNN)Former Pre sident Barack Obama announce d Sunday that he has tested posi- tive for Covid-19.
"I've had a scratchy throat for a couple 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 test- ed negative.
"Michelle and I are grateful to be vaccinated and boosted," the for-
mer 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, 60, had recently returned to Washington, DC, after spend- ing much of the winter in Hawaii. He tested positive in DC, a person close to him said.
The diagnosis makes Obama the second US President known to contract the virus after then- President Donald Trump announced he tested posi- tive in October 2020, which was before vaccines were widely avail- able in the US.
Obama has been a champion of public health measure through- out the pandemic. Last August, he dramatically scale
d back his 60th birthday party on Martha's Vineyard due to concerns at the time over the Delta variant.
Currently, only 2%oftheUS population -- about 7 million people -- live in a county with a "high" Covid-19 community levels, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rest are at "low" or "medium" community levels, areas where there's no recom- mendation for masking or where immunocompro- mised people and those at high risk for severe dis- ease are advised to take extra pre- cautions against Covid-19, respec-
tively.
President Joe Biden said in his first State of the Union
address earlier this month that the US is moving "forward safely" into a less disrup- tive phase of the pandemic.
During his speech, the President outlined his plan to emerge from the Covid-19 pan- demic.
"Thanks to the progress we have made this past year, Covid-19 need no longer control our lives," Biden said as he acknowledged that Americans are "tired, frustrat- ed and exhaust- ed" with the pan- demic.
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