Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin Tests Positive for Breakthrough Case of COVID-19: 'Grateful' for Vaccine

Lloyd Austin.Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has tested positive for COVID-19 and will quarantine at home for the next several days, he announced on Sunday, adding that he is experiencing “mild” symptoms.

Austin’s statement said he had informed his leadership team as well as PresidentJoe Bidenof his positive test result, and that his staff “has begun contact tracing and testing of all those with whom I have come into contact over the last week.”

Austin’s last in-person meeting with Biden, he said, occurred on Tuesday, Dec. 21, “more than a week” before he first began to experience symptoms. He added that he had tested negative the morning of that meeting.

“I have not been in the Pentagon since Thursday, where I met briefly — and only — with a few members of my staff,” Austin’s statement added. “We were properly masked and socially distanced throughout.”

In his statement, Austin noted that he was fully vaccinated against the virus.

“As my doctor made clear to me, my fully vaccinated status — and the booster I received in early October — have rendered the infection much more mild than it would otherwise have been. And I am grateful for that,” the statement read.

Austin’s statement continued: “The vaccines work and will remain a military medical requirement for our workforce. I continue to encourage everyone eligible for a booster shot to get one. This remains a readiness issue.”

“To defend this Nation, we need a healthy and ready force,” Austin said in August.

A retired Army general, Austin made history when he was wasconfirmedlast January, making him the first Black person to lead the Department of Defense.

In announcing Austin as his nominee to lead the Pentagon, President Biden in December 2020 hailed him as “a leader of extraordinary character, courage, experience and accomplishment” and “the right person for the job of leading the Department of Defense at this moment in our nation’s history.”

“Cool under fire. Inspiring the same in all those around him — that’s Lloyd Austin,” Biden said.

source: people.com