GOP Sen. Roger Wicker announces testing positive for COVID-19 a second time

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) announced on Friday evening that he had tested positive for COVID-19 a second time despite being fully vaccinated.

“Today I received a positive test result for COVID-19. I am fully vaccinated and in good health. I will work from home for the next few days. I look forward to being back in person soon,” Wicker tweeted.

While the Senate is out today and next week, the Mississippi senator did participate in votes, including on Thursday.

The Mississippi Republican’s office announced in August that the senator had tested positive for the virus after experiencing mild symptoms. Less than two weeks later, he announced he had “a clean bill of health.”

Earlier this month, Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) announced that while he was asymptomatic, he had also tested positive for the virus in a breakthrough case. Sen. Shelly Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) also announced earlier this month that she, too, had tested positive for COVID-19.

The news of recent positive tests comes as COVID-19 cases have been trending downward within the United States. A number of states have announced intentions to lift indoor mask mandates in light of declining cases or other COVID-19 metrics they are watching. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky signaled during a White House briefing on Wednesday that the agency intended to update its masking guidance, among other recommendations, in the next few weeks.

“We recognize the importance of not just cases … but critically, medically severe disease that leads to hospitalizations. We must consider hospital capacity as an additional important barometer,” she said.

“We want to give people a break from things like mask-wearing when these metrics are better, and then have the ability to reach for them again should things worsen,” Walensky added.

Jordain Carney contributed.