US Vice President Mike Pence is self-isolating away from the White House after his press secretary was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Friday, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday, citing three people familiar with the situation.
The Vice President did not attend a meeting on Saturday with President Donald Trump and top military officials, the report said.
Pence tested negative for coronavirus on Sunday, one of the people said, but is staying at his home at the US Naval Observatory in Washington out of an abundance of caution, said the people, who asked not to be identified because his isolation hasn’t been publicly announced.
Pence’s press secretary, Katie Miller, tested positive for coronavirus on Friday. Miller is the primary spokeswoman for the White House coronavirus task force, which Pence leads and which last met on Thursday.
Pence traveled to Iowa on Friday after Miller’s positive test, a trip that was delayed for more than hour so that six members of the vice president’s staff who’d been in contact with Miller could disembark from Air Force Two.
On Thursday, 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 that he, Pence and other high-ranking White House officials will be tested for coronavirus on a daily basis.
On Saturday, it was announced that Dr. Robert Redfield, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), will self-quarantine for two weeks after he was exposed to Miller.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, who visited the White House on Wednesday and spent time near Miller, is considering self-isolating, two people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
The state’s health director, Caitlin Pedati, accompanied Reynolds on the trip and is planning to self-isolate, one of the people said.
On Saturday, it was reported that Ivanka Trump's personal assistant tested positive for coronavirus. A source told CNN that the personal assistant has been telecommuting, and has not been in her employer's presence in several weeks.