Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Tests Positive for COVID-19 After Maskless Miami Appearances

She visited Florida to celebrate the new year

alexandria ocasio-cortez
Getty Images

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has tested positive for COVID-19 just days after returning from vacationing in Florida.

“Representative Ocasio-Cortez has received a positive test result for COVID-19. She is experiencing symptoms and recovering at home,” read a statement from her office, which also noted that she got her booster vaccine in the fall.

Ocasio-Cortez’s trip to Florida was a small-scale scandal, as she was seen outdoor dining with her boyfriend while neither wore masks. That caused chatter about the stricter response measures in New York and Washington, D.C., where she splits her time, and Florida, where Gov. Ron DeSantis has become a vocal opponent of mask and vaccine mandates.

For her part, Ocasio-Cortez suggested the issue was that right-wing pundits and politicians were experiencing “sexual frustrations” because of the photo.

“It’s starting to get old ignoring the very obvious, strange, and deranged sexual frustrations that underpin the Republican fixation on me, women,& LGBT+ people in general. These people clearly need therapy, won’t do it, and use politics as their outlet instead. It’s really weird,” she tweeted at the time.

Beyond Monday night’s statement released by her office, the social media-savvy Democratic representative hasn’t said anything online about her positive test since it was revealed. She did, however, trend on Twitter as conservatives joked about the virus being attracted to her but others pointed out that it wasn’t a good look for Florida if she contracted the virus so easily during a visit there when she never got it in D.C. or New York.

Comments