Source: Politics<\/p>\n
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced Monday he had tested positive for Covid-19, the latest in a string of high-profile public officials to have been infected as case rates escalate nationwide. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis morning, as part of my regular testing routine, I received a positive rapid test for COVID-19,\u201d Hogan, a Republican, wrote on Twitter<\/a>. \u201cI have been vaccinated and boosted, and I am feeling fine at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n Hogan urged others to get vaccinated, or schedule a booster dose, particularly as the Omicron variant proliferates and further stressed parts of the health care system. <\/p>\n Over the weekend Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said they too had tested positive, as had Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) upon his return from a congressional delegation trip to Ukraine. Each of the lawmakers said they are only experiencing mild symptoms, which they credited to being fully vaccinated. <\/p>\n The chief executive officer of Southwest Airlines, Gary Kelly, tested positive for Covid-19 last week just days after testifying before the Senate Commerce Committee. Kelly said he had tested negative \u201cmultiple times\u201d before his appearance but tested positive after he left Washington.<\/p>\n The spike in new positive tests comes in the middle of the holiday season in the U.S., a time of increased travel and social gatherings that has raised fears among public health experts about a surge in cases in the coming weeks that could overwhelm hospitals. <\/p>\n Last week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention endorsed a strategy to keep students in classrooms after being exposed to someone with Covid-19 through frequent testing in updated K-12 guidance<\/a>. But the U.S. remains woefully under-equipped to comprehensively track Covid cases<\/a>, including the Omicron variant, even as the pandemic approaches its third year.<\/p>\n