Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has tested positive for COVID-19 despite having been vaccinated, his office said Tuesday.
“The governor has been testing daily, and today was the first positive test result,” Abbott’s Communications Director Mark Miner said. “The governor will isolate in the Governor’s Mansion and continue to test daily.”
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Miner also said that Abbott is not experiencing symptoms and is receiving Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody treatment, the same therapy that former President Donald Trump received when hospitalized with COVID-19 last fall.
Breakthrough coronavirus cases are expected even with highly effective vaccines, such as the ones developed by Pfizer and Moderna. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention only tracks breakthrough cases that result in hospitalizations or deaths and not milder infections that likely will not endanger the patient.
The vast majority of hospitalizations and deaths due to infection of the delta strain of COVID-19 have been in unvaccinated people. Roughly 194,000 breakthrough cases have been detected across 44 states and Washington, D.C., between Jan. 1 and early August, representing just 0.1% of the more than 136 million fully vaccinated people in those states and the district, according to an analysis from the Wall Street Journal. However, the actual number of breakthrough cases may be much higher because many vaccinated people who get infected never experience symptoms or do not get tested for COVID-19.
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“Gov. Abbott is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, in good health, and currently experiencing no symptoms,” Miner said. “Everyone that the governor has been in close contact with today has been notified. Texas first lady Cecilia Abbott tested negative.”
Abbott has banned local governments from setting mask mandates. He has prevented school districts from mandating masks for students and staff, leading to legal conflict between school districts and the state government.
Abbott has also banned all forms of vaccine mandates, despite pressure from public health experts to boost vaccinations in the state, where about 55% of adults have received at least one shot. Roughly 45% have been fully vaccinated. Hospital systems around the state are straining to keep up with the number of COVID-19 patients who need treatment.
