Abbott tests positive for COVID-19
Diagnosis comes the day after large maskless event; governor promises he will ‘stay engaged’
Gov. Greg Abbott has tested positive for COVID-19 but is not experiencing any symptoms, his office announced in a statement to the media.
“The governor will isolate in the Governor’s Mansion and continue to test daily,” said Mark Miner, communications director for the governor. “Gov. Abbott is receiving Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody treatment. Gov. Abbott is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, in good health, and currently experiencing no symptoms. Everyone that the governor has been in close contact with today has been notified. Texas first lady Cecilia Abbott tested negative.”
The statement does not say when Abbott is thought to have contracted the virus.
Late Tuesday, Abbott released a video message on social media talking about his positive test and stressing that he is not feeling any symptoms.
“I have no fever, no aches and pains, no other types of symptoms,” Abbott said.
Abbott said that despite his positive test, he will “stay engaged every single day” on everything happening at the Texas Capitol.
The monoclonal antibody treatment Abbott is receiving has been recommended by federal health officials to reduce the risk of hospitalization for people who are at high risk for developing more serious illness. Abbott, 63, has faced decades of medical care for treatment related to injuries he sustained in 1984 while jogging in Houston. An oak tree fell on him, paralyzing him below the waist, resulting in steel rods being implanted in his
spine.
Abbott’s positive test comes in the middle of his fight with local governments and school districts to prevent them from requiring masks on their properties. Abbott has repeatedly said he will not issue any more government mandates to fight the spread of the virus including re-implementing mask requirements or occupancy limits on businesses as he did last year.
Maskless event
Tuesday’s announcement was just hours after Abbott attended a packed event in Collin County where there was little social distancing and almost no one wore a mask.
“Another standing room only event in Collin County tonight. Thank y’all for the enthusiastic reception,” Abbott said on Twitter after the event that was estimated to have 600 people in attendance.
Abbott was not wearing a mask in photos posted on social media and shook hands with many of the attendees.
He was visiting a North Texas region that is facing one of the highest rates of hospitalizations for patients with lab-confirmed COVID-19. According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, the hospital trauma service region that includes Collin County has more than 17 percent of hospital capacity taken up by coronavirus patients. The state considers anything above 15 percent to be high.
While hospitalizations are up in that region, Collin County has been one of the most successful in the state in getting people vaccinated. According to state data, 65 percent of people 12 years old and up in Collin County are fully vaccinated compared with the state’s average of 55 percent.
People who attended the Republican Club at Heritage Ranch meeting said on social media Abbott made it a point to tell the audience that Texans are free to choose to wear a mask if they wish. Abbott’s staff says anyone who had been in close contact with the governor was notified of his positive test.
Attempts to reach officials with the Republican Club at Heritage Ranch in Collin County were unsuccessful.
On Tuesday, the state surged past 12,000 lab-confirmed COVID-19 hospitalizations for the first time since January, and seven of the state’s 22 hospital trauma service regions are reporting having no available intensive care units to handle additional patients.
Well-wishers, critics
The fact that Abbott is vaccinated makes him statistically less likely to require hospitalization or put him at risk of death than those who have not received their shots, said Dr. Jason R. McKnight, a clinical assistant professor of primary care and population health at Texas A&M University.
However, there are other risk factors that could also play a role, he said. Abbott’s age and his condition of paraplegia, for example, put him at higher risk of a more severe infection.
“Globally, the vast majority of fatalities from COVID-19 have been what we call elderly populations, those 60, 70, 80, 90 years of age,” McKnight said.
McKnight said that it is difficult to say without knowing the specifics of Abbott’s condition, but generally patients with high-level spinal cord injuries have greater chances of critical illness, especially if their condition affects their diaphragm, the major muscle of respiration located below the lungs. COVID-19 is a respiratory disease that can cause lung complications.
“Someone who does not have the ability to walk and can only remain sitting, they’re not able to fully expand their lungs as well as someone who can get up and walk and around, and so not being able to expand the lungs as well is also something that might could come in to play if they were to have a pulmonary event due to COVID.”
The way to prevent infections — breakthrough or otherwise — is to follow health guidance such as wearing face masks and social distancing, he said.
“No one is immune from catching COVID,” McKnight said. “This does underscore that it is still out there and it’s still very transmissible and we do need to listen to public health officials . ... Going back to some of the things we were doing a year ago can help minimize the transmission and will help us get through the current surge.”
Well wishes poured in for Abbott from across the political spectrum on Tuesday as news of his diagnosis swept through the nation.
“I am sorry to hear the news that Gov. Abbott has tested positive for COVID-19,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican from Montgomery County, said. “Please join Jan and me in prayer for him. I’ve been in touch with Gov. Abbott and I stand ready to assist him in any way possible.”
Democrats such as former San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro also expressed sympathies.
“I wish the governor a speedy recovery as he quarantines with COVID-19,” Castro said.
But while most Texas Democrats offered their sympathies and well wishes on Twitter, some seized on the irony of the diagnosis after Abbott has spent the past several months in a war with local governments and school districts, restraining them from enacting local COVID-19 restrictions meant to prevent the spread of the virus.
“What’s appropriate: Thoughts and prayers???” Rep. Jasmine Crockett, DDallas, mused in a tweet about how she ought to respond. “OR Hopefully there’s an ICU bed if you need one since you’ve not allowed locals to try to control this thing and they are running outta beds OR Can we finally now allow mask mandates???”
Rep. Erin Zwiener, DDriftwood, asked the same. “Can we acknowledge the Delta variant is real and let schools require masks now?” she tweeted.
Rep. Jared Patterson and other Republicans quickly blasted Crockett’s tweet, calling it an “unbelievably disturbing reaction.”
“What a disgusting, callous, cold-hearted response from Tik-Tok star Jasmine Crockett,” Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, said on Twitter.
“This does underscore that it is still out there and it’s still very transmissible and we do need to listen to public health officials . ... Going back to some of the things we were doing a year ago can help minimize the transmission and will help us get through the current surge.”
Jason R. McKnight, clinical assistant professor of primary care and population health at Texas A&M University