U.S. Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio said Tuesday that he tested positive for COVID-19.
"I am asymptomatic and feel fine. I have been in contact with the Attending Physician and my personal doctor," he said in a statement.
According to the senator's office, Portman took an at-home COVID-19 test as he prepared to return to Washington, D.C. after the holiday break. The test came up as positive.
Portman said he will follow guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and isolate for five days.
The CDC only just recently changed its guidelines to allow positive individuals to leave isolation after five days if symptoms are gone or getting better, so long as they wear masks for at least five more days.
The Republican senator said he will be working from home this week and will be unable to cast votes in the meantime.
Portman has encouraged Ohioans to get vaccinated and revealed he even participated in a COVID-19 vaccine trial. His office said that he also has received his booster dose.
As the faster-spreading Omicron variant circulates, other federal lawmakers have also tested positive for the coronavirus in recent weeks. U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, and Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, tested positive before Christmas.
Portman, who announced he will not run for re-election, played a key role in negotiating between Republicans and Democrats last year and helped form the more than $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill signed into law in November.
He was born in and resides in the Cincinnati area.
Titus Wu is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.
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