Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is back in quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19 for the second time this year – and insisting it would be worse if he was not vaccinated and boosted.
Trudeau, who went into isolation in January, just as the nation’s truckers converged on Ottawa to protest his government’s strict vaccine mandates, announced his latest positive test Monday. He said he was feeling “okay,” and expressed gratitude that he was vaccinated.
“I’ve tested positive for COVID-19. I’ll be following public health guidelines and isolating,” Trudeau said. “I feel okay, but that’s because I got my shots. So, if you haven’t, get vaccinated – and if you can, get boosted. Let’s protect our healthcare system, each other, and ourselves.”
I’ve tested positive for COVID-19. I’ll be following public health guidelines and isolating. I feel okay, but that’s because I got my shots. So, if you haven’t, get vaccinated – and if you can, get boosted. Let’s protect our healthcare system, each other, and ourselves.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) June 13, 2022
Just last week, Trudeau was in California where he met with Democratic President Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), and other officials. None of the U.S. officials have announced that they have been infected.
Although the COVID vaccines were originally advertised as providing significant protection from infection, many media outlets now say they are “primarily designed to keep those who become infected from falling seriously ill,” according to The Associated Press.
Trudeau’s latest positive test comes after Canada suspended random COVID testing at airports for the rest of June to help ease long travel wait times. Trudeau’s Liberal party has faced criticism over continued pandemic restrictions, including barring unvaccinated people from traveling on planes and vaccine mandates for federal employees.
In late January, Trudeau and his family left their official residence and went into quarantine at an “undisclosed location” just as hundreds of trucks poured into central Ottawa and thousands of citizens descended on Parliament Hill to complain about vaccine mandates. Critics accused Trudeau of using quarantining as an excuse to hide from protesters, who sought to press their case directly to him.
“Running away and hiding is the worst thing #Trudeau could have done,” tweeted free speech advocate Pat Condell at the time. “In pivoting from authoritarian bully to shrinking violet at the slightest pressure, he has shown the world what a coward he is and become a laughing stock. He won’t live this down.”
Trudeau was also quarantined with his family for two weeks in March 2020 after his wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, got COVID, but did not get infected at the time.