ST PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz believes he and his family came down with the omicron variant of COVID-19.
Walz announced Tuesday that he, his wife, and their 9th grade son all tested positive for COVID-19. During a virtual town hall on Wednesday, the governor said he and first lady Gwen Walz are experiencing mild symptoms so far.
"That's the symptoms I'm experiencing, kind of congested ... thank goodness I haven't lost my sense of taste or smell, and it appears like it's a tough cold," the governor said.
While the governor said variant sequencing wasn't done on his COVID test, he believes "all indications are it would be omicron."
"I kind of heard this for the last week to ten days, there's a bad cold going around. That's probably omicron," Gov. Walz said.
The governor said the speed with which the omicron variant has taken hold is noteworthy. The Minnesota Department of Health said on Wednesday that it believes omicron is now the dominant strain in the state of Minnesota.
"This one appears to be faster, quicker, it's incubation period is shorter," Gov. Walz said. "We saw this, you can go from negative in the morning to positive at night through your whole family, just that quickly."
The governor said his family will not have a large Christmas gathering this year, as they continue to isolate at home.
"I'm as disappointed as anybody, I love Christmas Eve with my family, we're not going to be able to do that, just because we're still-- we could spread it to others," he said.