Senator Elizabeth Warren said she tested positive for COVID, only experiencing ‘mild symptoms’

Senator Elizabeth Warren spoke to a reporter on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday.Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Senator Elizabeth Warren said on Sunday she has tested positive for COVID-19 in a breakthrough case but so far is only experiencing what she described as “mild symptoms.”

The 72-year-old Massachusetts Democrat wrote on her official Senate Twitter account that she had tested negative in the past week as part of regular testing. She said she is vaccinated and has received a booster shot.

“I regularly test for COVID & while I tested negative earlier this week, today I tested positive with a breakthrough case. Thankfully, I am only experiencing mild symptoms & am grateful for the protection provided against serious illness that comes from being vaccinated & boosted,” Warren wrote.

I regularly test for COVID & while I tested negative earlier this week, today I tested positive with a breakthrough case. Thankfully, I am only experiencing mild symptoms & am grateful for the protection provided against serious illness that comes from being vaccinated & boosted.

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) December 19, 2021

“As cases increase across the country, I urge everyone who has not already done so to get the vaccine and the booster as soon as possible - together, we can save lives,” Warren also wrote.

Warren’s oldest brother, Donald Reed Herring, 86, died of COVID-19 in April 2020.

Warren was on the Senate floor speaking with colleagues at several points during a marathon session Friday and into early Saturday morning in which votes were taken on several of President Biden’s nominees. She wore a black face mask almost all of the time, but at one point she took it off for several minutes while eating a snack as she sat facing forward between two colleagues, according to a review of C-SPAN video. Senators frequently do not wear masks in the chamber.

The Senate adjourned Saturday morning and will not return until Jan. 3.

Warren is the 14th senator to test positive for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, according to GovTrack.us, an independent website that monitors Congress. She is the first to test positive since the summer as virus cases have surged in recent weeks because of the Delta and new Omicron variants. Massachusetts Representatives Stephen Lynch of Boston and Lori Trahan of Westford tested positive in January.

At least five senators and 15 House members have tested positive for breakthrough infections after being fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to The Hill, a Capitol Hill news site.