Biden Aide Suspected of Coronavirus Infection Tests Negative

(Bloomberg) -- A White House aide who initially tested positive for coronavirus infection after accompanying President Joe Biden to international summits in Europe has subsequently tested negative, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.

The aide and some of Biden’s other traveling staff remained in Scotland after the president attended the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow because of concern about transmission, according to a White House official.

The initial, positive result was a rapid antigen test. But a follow-up polymerase chain reaction test, which detects viral DNA in a patient’s sample, was negative, Psaki said.

White House staff members who had contact with the aide have so far tested negative, the official said. Biden himself was tested for the virus on Tuesday and was negative.

Psaki intended to travel with Biden to Europe but remained home in Washington after family members contracted Covid-19. She was infected herself over the weekend, she announced. 

The White House has declined to identify the aide who remained in Scotland by name or title. White House policy is to not reveal to the public when senior staff members tests positive for the virus unless the aide was in close contact with the president, first lady, vice president or the second gentleman, Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday.

Psaki has said that the White House would make public infections among “commissioned officers” on Biden’s staff, which generally means senior aides with the words “assistant to the president” in their titles. 

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