Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist tests positive for COVID, is asymptomatic 

Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist announced Sunday that he has tested positive for COVID-19, but has no symptoms. He said he will be “isolating for the appropriate amount of time” and plans to “maintain a virtual work schedule.”

Gilchrist had been vaccinated and received a booster shot, but tested positive after his daughter, Ruby, developed symptoms and subsequently tested positive for COVID-19. 

In a Twitter post published Sunday evening, Gilchrist said he ​​is “grateful that being vaccinated protects against serious illness” and encouraged “everyone to keep doing all they can to keep each other safe”.

Today, I tested positive for COVID-19.

I currently have no symptoms, and I’m grateful that being vaccinated protects against serious illness. I encourage everyone to keep doing all they can to keep each other safe. pic.twitter.com/cfrs7Fvlxt

— Garlin Gilchrist II (@LtGovGilchrist) January 9, 2022

“This morning, I tested positive for COVID-19,” Gilchrist said in the video attached to the Tweet. “Since the beginning, I have been open and transparent about how this virus has impacted people in my life. I take this very seriously and I feel that it is important to share my story.”

The more contagious omicron variant has been spreading across Michigan and the country, with hospitals warning they are at a breaking point between hospitalizations of mostly unvaccinated patients and staff absences after contracting the virus.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) reported Friday a total of 1,636,611 COVID-19 cases and 27,822 COVID-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic — an additional 40,692 cases since Wednesday. 

Gilchrist’s test result comes after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said last week that she was isolating herself from her husband, Marc Mallory, who began experiencing symptoms and tested positive for COVID-19 last Tuesday. A rapid test and a subsequent PCR test showed Whitmer was negative for the virus. 

Attorney General Dana Nessel also is isolating after experiencing symptoms. Her first test was negative, but her PCR test has not come back yet.