Fully-vaccinated Sen. Lindsey Graham is diagnosed with COVID after spending today at Capitol: Tweets that he's got flu-like symptoms and will quarantine for 10 days
- Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said Monday that he tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing mild symptoms
- 'I was just informed by the House physician I have tested positive for COVID-19 even after being vaccinated,' Graham said in a statement
- He said he started having flu-like symptoms Saturday night and went to the doctor Monday morning
- 'I am very glad I was vaccinated because without vaccination I am certain I would not feel as well as I do now,' the Republican lawmaker said
- Graham's case of COVID-19 marks the Senate's first breakthrough coronavirus infection now that the body is almost fully vaccinated
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said Monday that he tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing mild symptoms.
'I was just informed by the House physician I have tested positive for COVID-19 even after being vaccinated,' Graham said in a statement.
He said he started having flu-like symptoms Saturday night and went to the doctor Monday morning.
Sen. Lindsey Graham announced Monday afternoon that he tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing mild symptoms. Graham is captured without a mask walking around the Capitol Building on Friday
Sen. Lindsey Graham tweeted Monday afternoon that he had tested positive for COVID-19 and was experiencing flu-like symptoms
Sen. Lindsey Graham said if he hadn't been vaccinated against COVID-19, 'My symptoms would be far worse'
'I feel like I have a sinus infection and at present time I have mild symptoms. I will be quarantining for ten days,' he continued. 'I will be quarantining for ten days.'
'I am very glad I was vaccinated because without vaccination I am certain I would not feel as well as I do now. My symptoms would be far worse,' the Republican added.
Capitol Hill reporter Igor Bobic reported seeing Graham in the Capitol Building earlier Monday sporting a mask.
Graham was captured by reporters walking around Capitol Hill Friday without a mask.
The Senate didn't put back in place mask-wearing as the vaccination rate among lawmakers in the upper chamber is nearly universal.
The vaccination rate in the House of Representatives is lower.
A number of House Republicans protested the House's resumption of mask-wearing last week, by parading to the Senate side of the Capitol Building.
Graham joins nearly 70 of his Congressional colleagues in testing positive for the coronavirus - but this is the Senate's first breakthrough COVID infection since most of the upper chamber received the vaccine.
Politico reported that Graham was on Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin's boat over the weekend.
'Senate Manchin is fully vaccinated and following the CDC guidelines for those exposed to a COVID positive individual,' a Manchin spokesperson said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises that vaccinated individuals who have been in contact with COVID-positive individuals get tested three to five days after exposure.
They're also advised to wear a mask in public for 14 days following a potential exposure - or until a negative test comes back.
Vaccinated individuals who test positive are supposed to quarantine for 10 days.
Graham announced in December he had received the vaccine - tweeting out a picture of himself getting his first shot.
'Thank God for nurses who help people in need and know how to use a needle. Thank God for those who produced these vaccines. If enough of us take it, we will get back to normal lives,' Graham said at the time.
Graham and other Republican lawmakers who received early doses of the vaccine were criticized for doing so after party members downplayed the dangers of the virus.
Graham mocked mask-wearing as recently as Thursday.
'To my liberal Democratic friends: If you are looking to "Mask Up," how about "Mask Up" the border?' Graham said sharing a Fox News story quoting former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, who claimed migrants coming over the southern border were bringing COVID-19 into the country.
During President Donald Trump's time in office, Graham was one of his top allies on Capitol Hill.
Trump helped politicize mask-wearing and hosted large political rallies for months leading up to the November 3 presidential election, despite vaccines not being available yet.
The former president and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for COVID-19 in early October and Trump was briefly hospitalized at Walter Reed because he had low oxygen levels.
Sen. Lindsey Graham shared a photo of himself getting a COVID-19 jab in December 2020
