Passenger on Biden’s Plane Tests Positive for Coronavirus
A passenger on Joe Biden’s campaign plane tested positive for Covid-19, the Biden campaign announced Thursday.
(Bloomberg) -- A passenger on Joe Biden’s campaign plane tested positive for Covid-19, the Biden campaign announced Thursday.
An administrator for the aviation charter company the campaign uses was on the plane this week for trips to Ohio and Florida but sat more than 50 feet from the Democratic nominee, used a different entrance and exit and both Biden and the person were wearing masks at all times, campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement.
She added that health advisers said there was no need for Biden to quarantine.
The announcement of the diagnosis of someone who was on the same plane but not in contact with Biden was part of the campaign’s effort to contrast with President Donald Trump’s handling of the virus. The positive coronavirus test of one of Trump’s closest aides, which was closely followed by his own diagnosis, came out through leaks to reporters.
Biden tested negative for Covid-19 on Wednesday night, the campaign said.
The charter company employee’s positive test result came after the campaign conducted contract tracing following the positive diagnoses of a senior aide to running mate Kamala Harris and a member of her flight crew. Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, tested negative for the virus on Thursday, but the campaign canceled her travel through the weekend.
“Given that the Vice President had no physical proximity at all with this administrative crew member, and that his plane is larger than Senator Harris’ plane, and the distance from the individual is significant (over 50 feet), there is no reason to even undertake such a caution,” O’Malley Dillon said in the statement.
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.