Sen. Coons announces he tested positive for COVID-19

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Dr. Siegel: Biden admin wasn't prepared for omicron variant

Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marc Siegel provides reaction and analysis to President Biden's comments on the emergence of the omicron variant. He then discusses COVID treatment pills and a vaccine developed by the U.S. Army.

Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) announced on Twitter Thursday that he has tested positive for the coronavirus. 

"In recent weeks I have been tested for COVID-19 regularly, both with rapid tests and PCR tests, and last night I got bad news – I tested positive," Coons tweeted. "I have minimal symptoms so far and am optimistic I will recover well after isolating and following CDC guidelines."

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., speaks as the Senate Judiciary Committee hears from legal experts on the final day of the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) (AP)

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Coons joins Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker on the list of Democratic senators who have tested positive for the virus in the last week. Both Warren and Booker said that they were fully vaccinated. 

President Biden answers questions after speaking about the status of the country's fight against COVID-19 and the Omicron variant, in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, on Dec. 21, 2021. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

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Both President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris came in contact with a staffer who tested positive for the coronavirus this week. 

"It is in the public’s interest to know if any of the four principals [President, Vice President, First Lady, and Second Gentleman] are considered to have been in close contact with a White House official who subsequently tested positive for COVID-19 shortly after that contact," the statement White House said in a statement Wednesday. "The criteria for what is considered a 'close contact' with the principals is determined by the White House Medical Unit, in line with CDC guidance."

Two days earlier, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement that a "mid-level staff member" who "spent approximately 30 minutes in proximity to the President on Air Force One" over the weekend tested positive for the virus.

Harris and Biden have both tested negative since.

Omicron has raced ahead of other variants and is now the dominant version of the coronavirus in the U.S., accounting for 73% of new infections last week, federal health officials said Monday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention numbers showed nearly a six-fold increase in omicron’s share of infections in only one week.

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 21: U.S. President Joe Biden speaks about the omicron variant of the coronavirus in the State Dining Room of the White House, December 21, 2021 (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

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CDC officials said they do not yet have estimates of how many hospitalizations or deaths are due to omicron.

Associated Press contributed to this report