Vice President Kamala Harris.Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty
Vice PresidentKamala Harrishas tested positive forCOVID-19but is not showing symptoms and was not recently a close contact of either PresidentJoe Bidenor First Lady Dr.Jill Biden, her office said Tuesday.
A Harris spokeswoman announced Harris' diagnosis in a statement to reporters, saying she had “tested positive for COVID-19 on rapid and PCR tests” earlier Tuesday.
“She has exhibited no symptoms, will isolate and continue to work from” her residenceat the Naval Observatory, the spokeswoman said.
“She will follow [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] guidelines and the advice of her physicians,” the spokeswoman said, adding that she planned to return to the White House once she was testing negative. (Second GentlemanDoug Emhoff’s plans were not immediately clear in the wake of Harris' diagnosis; a spokeswoman for him did not respond to an email.)
Harris, 57, like the president and numerous other prominent government officials, is both vaccinated against COVID and has received a booster shot, greatly reducing her risk of serious illness, hospitalization or death.
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Still, the contagiousness of the respiratory virus has never strayed too far from the administration, even as its health threat has diminished with vaccines: Various aides continue to test positive, causing periodic disruptions to the West Wing, and the return of large-scale Washington, D.C., events has been eyed as another factor in some infections.
For example, anumber of positive cases were linkedto the Gridiron Dinner earlier this month.
President Biden, multiple Cabinet secretaries and other prominent figures are expected to attend the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner on Saturday, which is returning — with restrictions — after a two-year cancellation due to the pandemic.
White House Press SecretaryJen Psaki— who herself has twice tested positive for COVID — recently acknowledged officials have considered Biden, 79, being infected.
“He has access to the best healthcare and medical care in the world. They have assessed the risk is worth him going out and traveling this week in the country in doing that,” she saidat a CSPAN eventearlier this month. “They have assessed and we know that he can be president wherever he is. That is what the United States prepares any president for.”
Psaki noted then that Biden hadreceived a second vaccine booster, in March, affording him extra protection and she promised the administration would be candid should he test positive.
source: people.com
