Mike Pence and Donald Trump
Mike Pence and Donald TrumpReuters

A staffer in US Vice President Mike Pence’s office has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, administration officials said Friday, according to The Hill.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany confirmed the case at a press briefing and said that the White House had put in place guidelines used to protect essential workers to keep those in the complex safe.

“We have put in place the guidelines that our experts have put forward to keep this building safe,” she told reporters.

Pence was traveling to Des Moines, Iowa, on Friday to meet with faith leaders to discuss plans to reopen houses of worship, and later agricultural and food supply leaders to discuss steps being taken to secure the food supply during the pandemic.

Pence’s flight on Air Force Two was delayed roughly an hour Friday morning and some staffers deplaned before the flight took off.

A senior administration official told reporters aboard the flight that the staffer who tested positive had potentially been on contact with six people scheduled to fly and that those individuals were removed from the flight.

“Nobody else was exhibiting any symptoms or having any feeling of sickness. We asked them to go get tested and to go home out of an abundance of caution,” the senior administration official said.

The official said the individual, who tested positive for COVID-19 Friday morning after testing negative the day before, did not have recent contact with either President Donald Trump or with Pence.

The case is the second confirmed case of COVID-19 among a member of the Vice President’s staff since March. The news also comes a day after the White House disclosed that a US military official working as Trump’s valet had also tested positive for the coronavirus.

Following Thursday’s news, Trump said he will be tested for coronavirus on a daily basis.

The President said the daily testing regimen would apply to Pence and certain high-level White House officials as well.

Trump was tested for coronavirus last month and the test came back negative. That was the second test he had undergone. The President was first tested for the virus after coming into contact with a Brazilian official who later tested positive. That test, too, came back negative.

Pence and second lady Karen Pence both tested negative for the virus in March after the first case in which a member of Pence’s staff tested positive for COVID-19.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)