Kamala Harris, Vice President of the United States has tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, underscoring the persistence of the highly contagious virus even as the U.S. eases restrictions in a bid to return to pre-pandemic normalcy, AP reported.
She tested positive on both rapid and PCR tests but “has exhibited no symptoms,” the White House said. She will isolate at her residence but continue to work remotely, and will return to the White House only when she tests negative for the virus.
Harris press secretary Kirsten Allen said neither President Joe Biden nor first lady Jill Biden was considered a “close contact” of Harris in recent days.
Harris had been scheduled to attend Biden’s Tuesday morning Presidential Daily Brief but was not present, the White House said.
Because of their travel schedules, the last time Harris saw Biden was Monday, April 18.
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Harris’ diagnosis comes a month after her husband, Doug Emhoff, recovered from the virus, as a wave of cases of the highly transmissible omicron subvariant has spread through the US political class, infecting Cabinet members, White House staffers and lawmakers including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Allen said Harris would follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines “and the advice of her physicians.” It was not immediately clear whether she is being prescribed any antiviral treatments.
After more than two years and nearly a million deaths in the U.S., the virus is still killing more than 300 people a day in the U.S., according to the CDC.
The unvaccinated are at far greater risk, more than three times as likely to test positive and 20 times more likely to die from the virus than those who have received at least a primary dose of the vaccines, according to the public health agency.
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