Former US President Obama Tests Positive For COVID-19

“I’ve had a scratchy throat for a couple days, but am feeling fine otherwise,” he announced on his official Twitter account.

Obama added that former first lady Michelle Obama has tested negative, thanks to the vaccine and booster they got.

The former president had recently returned to Washington, DC, after spending much of the winter in Hawaii.

The diagnosis makes Obama the second US President known to contract the virus after then-President Donald Trump announced he tested positive in October 2020, which was before vaccines were widely available in the US.

Obama has been a champion of public health measures throughout the pandemic. He plus fellow former presidents Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton — and the former first ladies — appeared together in a one-minute video released last March, endorsing the US vaccination campaign and sharing what they missed about pre-pandemic life.

“This vaccine means hope,” Obama said in the video. “It will protect you and those you love from this dangerous and deadly disease.”