California Governor Gavin Newsom announced today that he tested positive for Covid-19 despite having been double-vaccinated and boosted.
His office confirmed that Newsom is experiencing only mild symptoms and will begin taking Paxlovid to combat the virus.
“This morning, the Governor tested positive for COVID-19 after exhibiting mild symptoms. The Governor will continue to work remotely. In accordance with local and state health guidelines, Governor Newsom will remain in isolation at least through Thursday, June 2 and until he tests negative.
As outlined in California’s SMARTER Plan, which focuses on testing and treatment, the Governor will test prior to leaving isolation. The Governor has also received a prescription for Paxlovid, the antiviral that has been proven effective against COVID-19, and will begin his 5-day regimen immediately. Governor Newsom is vaccinated and has received two booster shots, including as recently as May 18.”
This morning, the Governor tested positive for COVID-19. He will remain in isolation at least through June 2 & until he tests negative.
He is vaccinated & has received two booster shots.
Vaccinations & boosters remain the best way to protect yourself from COVID-19. pic.twitter.com/MwVZbCgzoV
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) May 28, 2022
Newsom’s diagnosis comes just one day after he met with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in San Francisco to sign a climate change pledge. In May, Ardern tested positive for Covid.
Former Trump National Security Advisor Richard Grenell tweeted on Saturday evening in reaction to the news about Newsom, “The King and Queen of lockdowns.”
The King and Queen of lockdowns. https://t.co/95PL52oT8K
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) May 29, 2022
The test positivity rate in Sacramento, where Newsom lives and works is far higher than the state’s already high average. The 7-day test positivity rate in California is 7%.
On Friday, the Sacramento County unemployment rate was 10.4%. Given the large number of residents who use at-home test kits, which are not included in official statistics, the real rate is likely much higher.
Here’s what Daily Wire reported:
In May 2021, The Daily Wire reported, that California’s “lockdowns have left the food industry battered and bruised in the Golden State. Prior to the pandemic, up to 76,000 eating and drinking establishments employed up to 1.8 million people. Those numbers dropped precipitously as the lockdowns continued throughout 2020 and into 2021. Though the state has eased restrictions over the past few weeks, about two-third of the industry’s employees lost their jobs at least temporarily and employment remains a quarter below what had existed prior to the pandemic.”
Newsom’s policies were so unpopular that his political opponents were able to force a recall election of the governor.
He survived that election, but even The New York Times recognized that Newsom’s unpopularity stemmed in part from his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“California was one of the earliest states to go into lockdown last spring, and it is now emerging from a second lockdown, which started in December,” the Times wrote in February 2021.”That stop-start-stop has created a groundswell of anger toward Mr. Newsom, a Democrat in the third year of his first term that is increasingly fueling a movement to recall him from office in one of the bluest of blue states.”