Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has tested positive for COVID-19 for the second time this year. Trudeau — who received a booster shot in addition to an initial two-dose mRNA vaccine — has enacted some of the world’s most stringent COVID-19 policies.
“I’ve tested positive for COVID-19. I’ll be following public health guidelines and isolating,” Trudeau wrote on Twitter Monday. “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.”
The positive test is the second for the Canadian pm in five months.
In this instance, the COVID-19 diagnosis for Trudeau comes just days after he shook hands with President Biden and other world leaders at the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles. The pair shook hands on June 8 and posed for photo ops on June 9 and June 10, according to Fox News.
“It is President Biden’s highest priority event for the region,” the State Department said of the summit.
“As Chair and Host, the United States will work with the region’s stakeholders toward securing leader-level commitments and concrete actions that dramatically improve pandemic response and resilience, promote a green and equitable recovery, build strong and inclusive democracies, and address the root causes of irregular migration. Our commitment to diversity and inclusion will underpin our efforts.”
Canadian PM Trudeau tested positive for Covid-19 after returning from the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles, where he met in person with leaders including Biden https://t.co/BA93X860Hf pic.twitter.com/CfcLQyEkWH
— Bloomberg Originals (@bbgoriginals) June 14, 2022
Trudeau last tested positive for COVID-19 as the massive freedom convoy protests were ongoing. The peaceful protestors — who gathered to demand an end to the nation’s strict vaccine mandates — wanted to meet with Trudeau.
He refused, instead opting to falsely label the protestors as violent extremists. Trudeau later invoked Canada’s Emergencies Act for the first time in the nation’s history, which enabled a brutal crackdown against protestors in Ottawa.
The demonstrators demanded an end to strict COVID-19 measures and vaccine mandates, which until today, barred unvaccinated Canadians from air travel within their own country. Truckers who cross the border were particularly vocal in the protest movement, as unvaccinated individuals who enter or re-enter Canada are forced to quarantine for a number of days. The policy prevented them from doing their jobs.
Trudeau has kept strict COVID-19 policies in place even as the majority of the western world has scaled back. The Canadian government finally announced an end to its domestic travel vaccine mandate on Tuesday, which had been in effect for over a year.
