ADVERTISEMENT

Harris Worked With Staffer Who Then Tests Positive for Covid-19

Harris Worked With Staffer Who Then Tests Positive for Covid-19

A member of Vice President Kamala Harris’s staff who had been with her “throughout the day” Tuesday has tested positive for the coronavirus, the White House said Wednesday night.

Harris, after being informed of the exposure, received a polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, test that is considered more accurate than rapid tests. The result was negative, Symone Sanders, a senior adviser to Harris, said in a statement, adding that the vice president would be tested again on Friday and Monday.  

She had a routine antigen test earlier Wednesday that was also negative. The staff member, Sanders said, got a positive result Wednesday morning after testing negative Tuesday, Monday and “every day last week.” 

Sanders said that the staff member, who was not identified, had been fully vaccinated, had received a booster shot and did not have symptoms.   

President Joe Biden tested negative Wednesday, after spending time five days earlier with another staffer who later tested positive.

The unidentified aide, who had also been fully vaccinated with a booster shot, was in proximity to Biden for about 30 minutes aboard Air Force One last Friday, and tested negative that day. The aide began experiencing symptoms Sunday and tested positive Monday.

As Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “guidance does not require fully vaccinated people to quarantine after an exposure, the vice president will continue with her daily schedule,” Sanders said in the statement.

Harris and the second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, plan to leave for Los Angeles on Wednesday night, where they will stay until after New Year’s, according to the statement. 

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.