2 years ago
Vice President Kamala Harris has tested positive for Covid, the White House said on Tuesday, making her the latest government official to contract the virus as outbreaks strike the White House, Congress and major newsrooms across the capital.
The White House said that Harris, who is fully vaccinated and doubly boosted, was experiencing no symptoms.
“Today, Vice President Harris tested positive for COVID-19 on rapid and PCR tests,” said Press Secretary to the Vice President Kirsten Allen. “She has exhibited no symptoms, will isolate and continue to work from the Vice President’s residence. She has not been a close contact to the President or First Lady due to their respective recent travel schedules. She will follow CDC guidelines and the advice of her physicians. The Vice President will return to the White House when she tests negative.”
Harris spent much of the last week in California and returned to Washington on Monday evening from Los Angeles.
Numerous public officials have come down with the virus this past month, a spread that appeared to be linked at least in part to a handful of events including the annual Gridiron Club dinner in Washington, D.C. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Attorney General Merrick Garland announced positive tests just days after attending the dinner.
Harris’ positive test comes as the White House tries to manage crises on multiple fronts. It also comes as the White House has sought to project a new phase in the pandemic fight, one in which the country would learn to largely live with and manage the virus. The White House has continued to aggressively push for Americans to either get vaccinated or get their booster shots.
The White House has been having a bad run with Covid. In late March, press secretary Jen Psaki was infected for a second time, and her deputy, Karine Jean-Pierre, tested positive soon after. Harris’ husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, also had the virus in mid-March.
A White House official confirmed other employees have also been infected, and that those infections had been expected as the more transmissible subvariant of Omicron, BA.2, becomes the dominant strain in the U.S. and drives a new wave of cases.
The official said the Biden administration didn’t believe a new wave would be disruptive to operations, partly because the White House staff is almost universally vaccinated and symptoms so far for those who have tested positive have been mild.
Psaki has repeatedly emphasized that the White House’s strict protocols go above and beyond CDC guidance to keep principals safe, noting that anyone who meets or travels with the president and vice president are tested beforehand.
English (US)