Utah Gov. Spencer Cox tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday morning, according to a news release from the governor’s office.
“So far, I feel fine,” Cox said in the release. “Like so many Utahns, I’ve been vaccinated and boosted, but COVID eventually touches us all. If you feel sick, please stay away from others. And if you haven’t yet, please get vaccinated.”
The governor’s office said Cox first started having a scratchy throat Wednesday evening. He will be isolated for five days and wearing a mask for the next 10 days. Cox and the first family have been vaccinated, his office said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people who are “asymptomatic and mildly ill” quarantine for five days after testing positive for COVID-19.
Cox has attended several public appearances recently, like a news conference at the Kennecott copper mine on Wednesday, the One Utah Summit on Tuesday and the funeral of former Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch on Friday, May 6. The governor’s office said it was “in the process of notifying the small number of people considered to be in close contact with the governor: people who were within 6 feet of him for 15 minutes or more.”
“With the announcement that Gov. Spencer Cox has tested positive for COVID-19, this is a good reminder that the disease is still circulating in our communities,” Utah Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Charla Haley wrote in a statement Thursday.
Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson tested positive for COVID-19 in January. That was the second time she’d tested positive for the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, with the first happening during the summer of 2020.
