Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Tests Positive for Covid-19 Hours After Attending Maskless Campaign Event

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has examined constructive for covid-19, the Governor’s Office introduced on Tuesday afternoon lower than a day after attending a marketing campaign occasion stuffed with unmasked attendees. The governor, who banned masks mandates within the state even because the Delta variant of the lethal virus spreads, is vaccinated, his workplace mentioned, and is presently not experiencing signs.

“Governor Abbott is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, in good health, and currently experiencing no symptoms,” the Governor’s Office mentioned in a press release. “Everyone that the Governor has been in close contact with today has been notified. Texas First Lady Cecilia Abbott tested negative.”

On Monday evening, Abbott attended a marketing campaign occasion on the Republican Club at Heritage Ranch in McKinney, Texas, in accordance with the marketing campaign’s Twitter account. Multiple photos and videos present no individual in attendance carrying a masks.

Fortunately for these in attendance, covid-19 vaccinations make those that expertise breakthrough infections, like the type Abbott is seemingly experiencing, much less more likely to unfold the virus, in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control.

The Washington Post reports that, in accordance with a spokesperson, Abbott is receiving monoclonal antibody therapy made by Regeneron, which is used to deal with folks with “mild or moderate coronavirus disease,” according to the company.

NBC News, citing two unnamed sources, reports that Abbott has acquired a 3rd booster shot of the covid-19 vaccine. The Food and Drug Administration has not but approved a 3rd shot of the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna mRNA vaccines, though the Biden administration is reportedly planning to suggest booster photographs, supplied the FDA approves.

Breakthrough infections of covid-19 are uncommon, and the overwhelming majority of individuals hospitalized or killed by covid-19 are unvaccinated. But the breakthrough an infection isn’t what makes Abbott’s case of covid-19 information—it’s his politics and his politicization of the lethal pandemic.

According to Johns Hopkins University, almost 4.4 million folks globally have died of covid-19 because the pandemic started. That consists of 623,155 deaths within the U.S. alone, and 54,474 of these have been in Texas, as of 6 p.m. ET Tuesday.

Abbott is amongst Republican governors who’ve opposed obligatory well being security measures associated to covid-19. On July 19, Abbott signed an executive order banning masks mandates and vaccine necessities within the state. After the state’s two largest counties, Dallas and Bexar, challenged the order, the Texas Supreme Court upheld it.

“The new Executive Order emphasizes that the path forward relies on personal responsibility rather than government mandates,” Abbott mentioned in a statement issued after signing the EO. “Texans have mastered the safe practices that help to prevent and avoid the spread of COVID-19. They have the individual right and responsibility to decide for themselves and their children whether they will wear masks, open their businesses, and engage in leisure activities.”

The governor additionally famous that the vaccine is one of the best ways to stop the unfold of covid-19, however vowed that “they will always remain voluntary–never forced–in the State of Texas.”

On the day the order was signed, Texas was in the course of a surge of covid-19 circumstances, with greater than 15,000 new circumstances recorded on July 29, according to the New York Times. Today, the surge in circumstances continues within the state, which is experiencing its worst an infection fee since early February.