Justin Trudeau Tests Positive for Covid
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada has tested positive for the coronavirus after an exposure last week. He said on Twitter that he was not feeling ill.
He said later in an online news conference that two of his three children had also tested positive.
Mr. Trudeau has been isolating since last Thursday, when he learned that he had been exposed. He revealed his own positive test result in a statement posted to social media on Monday morning, and added that he would “continue to work remotely this week while following public health guidelines.”
Several Canadian news outlets reported that Mr. Trudeau and his family were relocated out of their official residence in Ottawa, the capital, by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police over the weekend as thousands of protesters converged on the city.
The police force declined to comment on those reports, citing security concerns.
Loosely organized trucker convoys traveled across the country to Ottawa to protest vaccine mandates, attracting supporters and millions of dollars in donations along the way. They gathered in front of Canada’s Parliament building on Saturday, clogging downtown streets, with cars and pickup trucks outnumbering the heavy trucks that initially made up the convoys.
Some protesters carried Canadian flags held upside down, traditionally a signal of dire distress or danger. At least one flag had swastikas drawn on it.
“Hate can never be the answer,” Mr. Trudeau said in the virtual news conference. “Over the past few days, Canadians were shocked and frankly, disgusted, by the behavior displayed by some people protesting in our nation’s capital.”
Some protesters were still in the area on Monday, and the Ottawa police said they expected “major traffic, noise and safety issues.”
Mr. Trudeau, who is fully vaccinated and received a booster dose at the beginning of January, planned to participate in his scheduled events remotely on Monday, including a question period in the House of Commons.
It is not the first time Mr. Trudeau has had to conduct his duties from home. His wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, came down with flulike symptoms in March 2020 and later tested positive for the coronavirus. As his wife isolated in one part of their home, Mr. Trudeau became the full-time caretaker to his three children, cleaning up and doing laundry, though cooked meals were dropped off.
Public health guidelines have changed recently in several provinces, including Ontario, where Ottawa is located. Ontario now requires vaccinated people who test positive for the virus to isolate for at least five days after the onset of symptoms, a household contact or a positive test; earlier in the pandemic, the minimum was about 14 days.
Close to 78 percent of Canadians are fully vaccinated, according to federal public health data, and 88 percent of people who are 5 and older have received at least one dose of vaccine.
Ian Austen contributed reporting from Ottawa.
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