Vice President Kamala Harris Tests Positive For Covid-19

Vice President Kamala Harris announced through her office that she has tested positive for Covid-19, making her the highest-ranking Biden administration official to contract it. This comes as the United States loosens pandemic restrictions including the end of the federal mask mandate to wear them on planes and other public transportation.

Harris tested positive on Tuesday from both a rapid test and PCR test according to her Press Secretary Kirsten Allen. Harris has exhibited “no symptoms” so far and has reportedly received two Moderna vaccine shots along with two boosters.

Harris was on a West Coast tour that she returned from Monday, and according to Allen, “she has not been in close contact to the President or First Lady due to their respective recent travel schedules.” Allen noted that Harris plans to work from home in accordance will CDC guidelines and will “return to the White House when she tests negative.”

The VP’s husband Doug Emhoff recently dealt with his own bout of the virus back in March, and even though the Biden administration is attempting to transition America to a “back-to-normal” mindset, new cases and variants are still cropping up. The White House has also confirmed that several staffers and aides around Biden have tested positive in the past months, but the President himself has avoided a case thus far.

Other recent positive cases in D.C. include Attorney General Merrick Garland, who had an asymptomatic case in early April, and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, who tested positive the very same day. These two positive tests are reportedly linked to a dinner at the Gridiron Club and Foundation which drew a huge crowd of elite politicians and journalists. According to the club, Garland and Raimondo were among at least 53 people who tested positive for Covid-19 after the dinner.