Former President Barack Obama tests positive for COVID

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Former President Barack Obama has tested positive for COVID-19.

The video featured is from a previous report.

"I just tested positive for COVID. I've had a scratchy throat for a couple days, but am feeling fine otherwise," he posted on Twitter Sunday.

He went on to say that he and his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama, are both vaccinated and boosted and that she has tested negative.

"It's a reminder to get vaccinated if you haven't already, even as cases go down," he added.

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The country's death toll now stands at 965,000 lives lost. The U.S. national case total has also surpassed 79.4 million confirmed cases, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services.

Nationwide, hospitalization rates continue to decline steadily.

On Thursday, for the first time since July, the number of hospitalized COVID-19 positive Americans fell below 30,000, according to federal data. This marks a more than 80% decline in the number of patients requiring care for the virus, since the nation's peak, when 160,000 people were hospitalized about two months ago, ABC News reported.

Obama was the 44th president of the United States and the first African-American president of the U.S. He was also an Illinois senator on Chicago's South Side and later moving into a U.S. senate role before being elected president.

This is a developing story. This article will continue to be updated as more information becomes available.