© 2024 WRVO Public Media
NPR News for Central New York
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Gov. Kathy Hochul tests positive for COVID-19

Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks at a COVID-19 briefing Tuesday, December 14, 2021
Kevin P. Coughlin
/
Office of the Governor
Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks at a COVID-19 briefing Tuesday, December 14, 2021

NEW YORK (AP & WXXI News) New York Gov. Kathy Hochul tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday, saying she will isolate and work remotely this week.

"Thankfully, I'm vaccinated and boosted, and I'm asymptomatic," Hochul, 63, wrote on Twitter. "A reminder to all New Yorkers: get vaccinated and boosted, get tested, and stay home if you don't feel well."

A day earlier, the Democratic governor had tweeted a photo from the Olana State Historic Site outside Hudson, New York, which she visited to thank park volunteers.

Hochul's positive test comes amid rising case numbers in New York. For weeks, much of upstate New York has been in the high-alert orange zone, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention designation that reflects serious community spread.

New York City last week crossed the city's threshold for "medium risk," indicating the widening spread of the subvariant knowns as BA.2 that has swept the state's northern reaches.

Hochul is among several U.S. governors to test positive in recent months. Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont and Maine Gov. Janet Mills tested positive in April. New York City Mayor Eric Adams tested positive for COVID-19 on April 10, his 100th day in office.