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Coronavirus pandemic
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Vaccinated US Senator Lindsey Graham tests positive for Covid-19

  • Republican senator began experiencing flu-like symptoms on Saturday
  • Several other lawmakers who had close contact getting Covid-19 tests

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Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. File photo: EPA
Reuters

Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham revealed on Monday that he has tested positive for Covid-19 despite being vaccinated, has flu-like symptoms and will be self-quarantining for 10 days.

The announcement on the heels of a weekend gathering of senators that Graham attended, sent lawmakers scrambling for Covid-19 tests and raised the possibility of a congressional outbreak as the Senate prepares to advance President Joe Biden’s agenda with a landmark US$1 trillion infrastructure bill.

“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,” Graham, 66, wrote on Twitter.

The South Carolina Republican, a leading conservative voice in the Senate, said he began experiencing flu-like symptoms on Saturday and sought medical attention on Monday morning. He was later informed by a congressional physician that he had tested positive.

“I feel like I have a sinus infection and at present time I have mild symptoms,” Graham, a staunch ally of former president Donald Trump, wrote in a pair of tweets. “I will be quarantining for ten days.”

Graham was among as many as a dozen senators who attended a weekend gathering that Senator Joe Manchin hosted at his houseboat named “Almost Heaven” in the Washington area. Manchin, a leading Democrat in infrastructure negotiations, described the event as an effort to encourage bipartisanship as the Senate prepared to debate and vote on the infrastructure bill this week.

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