The Food and Drug Administration has approved Merck’s anti-viral COVID-19 pill molnupiravir for emergency use.
Chris Coons, a U.S. senator from Delaware, is infected with COVID-19, he revealed Thursday morning through Twitter.
Coons, a Democrat, tested positive for the virus Wednesday night but has “minimal symptoms so far" and is "optimistic I will recover well after isolating and following CDC guidelines,” he posted.
He urged people to get their vaccine and the booster shot.
Coons is not the only lawmaker to recently contract the virus amid a wave of infections fueled by the more transmissible omicron variant.
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New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren both announced days ago that they contracted so-called breakthrough infections but were experiencing only minor symptoms, as well.
According to Center for Disease Control and Prevention data published Dec. 20, omicron is now the dominant coronavirus strain the U.S. For the week ending Dec. 18, omicron made up 73.2% of sequenced infections in the country, up from just 12.6% the week prior.
Though the COVID-19 vaccine does not guarantee someone will not be infected, the CDC indicates fully vaccinated individuals who have received a booster shot have a much lower risk of infection.
Data from the CDC also show unvaccinated individuals make up the large majority of U.S. coronavirus cases.
