Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) tested positive for COVID-19, her office announced Thursday.
"After testing negative this week, Speaker Pelosi received a positive test result for COVID-19 and is currently asymptomatic," Pelosi's deputy chief of staff Drew Hammill announced. "The Speaker is fully vaccinated and boosted, and is thankful for the robust protection the vaccine has provided."
Republicans have criticized the speaker for the broad coronavirus restrictions she has imposed on the House throughout the pandemic, which they say are politically motivated. Pelosi has slapped hefty fines on lawmakers, including Republican representatives Thomas Massie (Ky.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), and Ralph Norman (S.C.), who refuse to wear masks on the House floor.
In February, after Pelosi had kept mask mandates in the House in place for months, the chamber's attending physician lifted the mandate just two days before President Joe Biden's televised State of the Union address in the House.
A number of top Democrats and Biden administration officials have tested positive for the coronavirus in recent weeks, including White House press secretary Jen Psaki, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. While pandemic restrictions have eased across the country since the Omicron wave subsided, Centers for Disease Control and Protection director Rochelle Walensky said mask mandates may return "should things get worse in the future."