California Gov. Gavin Newsom went into quarantine after being in close contact with a staff member who tested positive for COVID-19.

Newsom’s quarantine was announced late Sunday night and confirmed by Newsom Monday afternoon as he gave a COVID-19 response update from him.

“I’m separate from the family and we have a separate little small room that they’ve put me in, so I’ll be here for the next number of days,” Newsom said. “Hopefully we’ll keep testing negative and hopefully that should calm the nerves of my wife and four kids.”

The governor said he and everyone on staff is required to wear masks, up until you see them take them off to speak during speaking engagements.

“Just shows the virulence of this disease—shows how easily transmitable this disease is,” Newsom said. “Only contact we’ve had is for preparation for events that we are doing, like right now, in terms of just trying to communicate with you.”

The governor’s office said they have begun contact tracing and initial tests by the governor came back negative, with additional testing scheduled to take place within the week, as first reported by FOX LA .

Before the current incident, Newsom and his family quarantined in November after his children came into close contact with a CHP officer who tested positive for COVID-19.

Newsom’s announcement comes days after Mayor Eric Garcetti announced that his daughter Maya, 9, tested positive for COVID-19.

Also addressing the city from home last Thursday,  Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said his daughter experienced mild symptoms and was going to quarantine for 10 days from the first day she first felt her symptoms. After coming down with a fever, the family decided to have her tested for COVID-19 and when the results came back positive, the Garcetti family began to quarantine.

“As we monitor Maya’s symptoms and take care of her, my family is going through what so many families across the city and this nation, and around the world, are experiencing,” Garcetti said. “Our family is incredibly careful and what’s happening in my home this week is playing out across this country.”

Both Garcetti and his wife tested negative, but are both in quarantine as Garcetti will be working remotely through this time.

Garcetti did not give a specific timeline of when the family quarantine began, but the mayor was present at a public event where the first COVID-19 vaccines were administered to medical staff at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles on the Monday of that week. 

As far as Newsom’s contact with the infected staffer, the governor said the exposure happened Friday and his test came back negative on Sunday.

 

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