Newsom tests positive for COVID-19; mild symptoms
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office confirmed Saturday that he tested positive for COVID-19 in the morning after exhibiting mild symptoms.
“The Governor will continue to work remotely,” the governor’s office said in a statement, adding that he will “remain in isolation at least through Thursday, June 2 and until he tests negative” in accordance with local and state health guidelines.
“This AM, I tested positive for COVID-19 and am currently experiencing mild symptoms,” Newsom posted Saturday on Twitter. “I’m following health guidelines and will be isolating while I work remotely.”
The statement said Newsom will test prior to leaving isolation, as outlined in the state’s SMARTER Plan for transitioning into an endemic stage of managing COVID-19, which focuses on testing and treatment.
The Governor also has received a prescription for Paxlovid, Pfizer’s antiviral drug that has been proven effective against COVID-19, and will begin the 5-day regimen of pills immediately.
Newsom is vaccinated and received his second booster shot May 18. But the governor’s office said vaccinations and boosters remain the best protection from COVID-19.
“Grateful to be vaccinated & for treatments like Paxlovid,” Newsom tweeted.
Newsom issued the country’s first statewide stay-home order in March 2020 as COVID-19 cases began multiplying rapidly in California and around the country, and has touted his aggressive policies to control the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the disease.
The Democratic governor has trumpeted California’s lower COVID-19 death rates than less restrictive Republican-led large states like Texas and Florida as evidence his policies saved lives.
But critics accused Newsom of hypocrisy after he was photographed unmasked dining with lobbyists at a Michelin-starred Napa restaurant in November 2020 and attending a January NFL playoff game in Los Angeles in seeming defiance of the spirit if not the letter of state and local pandemic health guidance.
And his administration’s restrictions on businesses and gatherings to slow the virus’ spread, mask and vaccine mandates and California’s slowest-in-the-nation return to in-person learning last year according to the data site Burbio.com helped spur a recall vote last September.
Newsom however handily beat the recall and faces no well-known and well-funded rival to his re-election this year.
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