Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, tested positive for COVID-19 four days ago. Now, in a recent statement on Twitter, he said that he has now tested negative for COVID-19, pointing out that he only had mild symptoms and his bout with the virus was brief because he was vaccinated.
Abbott then encouraged those who have not gotten any shot yet to get vaccinated.
In a video statement on Twitter, the governor also said that his wife has tested negative for COVID-19. Further, despite being tested negative for COVID-19, he will continue to be in quarantine per the recommendation of his doctors.
Abbott noted that although he will be in quarantine, he will continue to work on issues that are important to Texas, including opening infusion centers for antibody therapy treatments across the entire state of Texas.
Abbott announced his positive diagnosis on Tuesday. He said that he was not feeling symptoms despite the positive return of his COVID-19 test. The governor was being tested for the virus daily.
After he tested positive, his office said that the governor underwent Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody therapy treatment as advised by his doctor. Such treatment is a form of immunotherapy so that the monoclonal antibodies will bind monospecifically to specific cells or proteins. Through this treatment, it will stimulate the patient’s immune system to attack the specific cells.
Amid the COVID-19 surge of cases brought about by the Delta variant in Texas, experts with UT Austin’s Dell Medical School revealed how long a person infected with such strain will be contagious.
Speaking at a town hall, the experts cited data they had from Singapore and said that as the virus progressed, vaccinated people had much lower viral loads and were less contagious.
Parker Hudson, M.D., an assistant professor of internal medicine and infectious diseases at Dell Medical School, pointed out, “What we see in the first few days is viral loads that are almost indistinguishable for vaccinated and unvaccinated, and then as expected your immune system really kicks in, and you have faster viral decay with the vaccine.”
