US Surgeon General says his whole family has COVID, and describes their symptoms

• Dr. Vivek Murthy and his wife and kids all have COVID-19, the Surgeon General tweeted Friday.
• His 4-year-old daughter got sick first, and the other three Murthys tested positive despite being vaccinated.

US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy announced Friday that he and his immediate family all tested positive for COVID-19.

In a series of tweets, Murthy shared that he and his wife, Alice, and his 5-year-old son became ill days after his 4-year-old daughter tested positive. The three of them have been vaccinated and boosted, providing some peace of mind and protection from severe illness, Murthy wrote.

His daughter is too young to be vaccinated, since no COVID-19 vaccine has been authorized for kids under age five. She initially had a fever and sore throat, Murthy tweeted Tuesday, but she was "doing ok" when Murthy posted an update Friday.

—Dr. Vivek Murthy, U.S. Surgeon General (@Surgeon_General) February 18, 2022

All four family members are facing relatively mild symptoms, Murthy said. He reported muscle aches, chills, and a sore throat, while he said his wife has a headache and fatigue. Both kids have had fevers, he said, although his daughter had worse congestion and coughing compared to her brother's runny nose.

Murthy said he and his wife "tried to be safe" around their daughter after she tested positive, but eventually the urge to comfort their kids won out.

"It's tough when your kids are sick," Murthy wrote. "You want to comfort them when they're unwell. That often requires being close physically."

As a parent, Murthy said he felt reassured knowing that even if he or his wife did get infected, the vaccine would keep them from getting so sick that they'd be unable to care for their kids, or worse.

Even so, the Surgeon General acknowledged that getting COVID-19 after taking the recommended precautions can be a "frustrating" experience or even a source of shame.

—Dr. Vivek Murthy, U.S. Surgeon General (@Surgeon_General) February 18, 2022

"If you've done everything you can and gotten COVID-19 anyway, don't beat yourself up," Murthy added "A lot of us are doing the best we can."