A New York state assemblyman says he is in good spirits while under a seven-day quarantine after he tested positive for COVID-19.

State Assemblyman Nader Sayegh has been trying to convince people to get the COVID-19 vaccine. He says he was surprised to have learned that he contracted the virus.

"I was surprised. I was really shocked. Here I am, I am vaccinated, and I got COVID-19," Sayegh said.

Sayegh received the Moderna vaccine in February but said he is regularly tested as a precaution. He took the test this week after feeling a little under the weather and received a result he was not prepared for.

"This is something that for me was a wakeup call that you can never feel there is enough safeguards," Sayegh said.

Sayegh is one of many newly infected New Yorkers who could be victims of the delta variant.

An internal document from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now says that the variant appears to cause more severe illness than earlier variants and spreads like wildfire.

The document also says vaccinated people, as well as unvaccinated, can spread the virus.

Health officials urge that getting a COVID-19 vaccine is the only way to protect oneself from the delta variant.

Sayegh said he doesn't know how he caught coronavirus, but moving forward, he'll be moving differently around others and doing everything he can to be extra vigilant.

"Now I know the urgency and the impotence of wearing a mask," he said.

Sayegh is now pleading for more people to get vaccinated. He says the more people who get vaccinated, the closer the pandemic will come to an end.

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