Harris, who is not displaying symptoms, is the latest top US official to contract the coronavirus, according to his office.
US Vice President Kamala Harris has tested positive for COVID-19, becoming the latest top official in Washington to contract the coronavirus, the White House said.
A spokesman for the vice president said in a statement Tuesday that Harris had not been in close contact with President Joe Biden or his wife, Jill Biden, “due to their respective recent travel schedule.”
“Today, Vice President Harris tested positive for COVID-19 on rapid and PCR tests,” said spokeswoman Kirsten Allen. “She has shown no symptoms, she will be isolated and will continue to work from the Vice President’s residence.”
Earlier this month, top US cabinet members and prominent lawmakers, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, also tested positive for COVID-19.
Several White House aides and Harris’ husband Douglas Emhoff have also contracted the virus in recent weeks.
But Biden, who regularly tests for COVID-19, has not been infected despite the outbreak in US political circles, the White House has said.
“The President and Vice President spoke on the phone this afternoon,” the White House said on Tuesday. ,[Biden] Wanted to check and make sure she had everything she needed as a home quarantine. ,
Most legislators with recent positive tests have said they had mild cases, attributing vaccination to their mild symptoms.
“After experiencing what I thought were seasonal allergies, I have tested positive for COVID-19. Thankfully, I have been fully vaccinated, so my symptoms remain extremely mild,” Congressman Joe Morrell, a Democrat from New York, wrote on Twitter on Monday.
The US has reported more than 81 million COVID-19 cases and nearly one million related deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
But most places across the country have lifted restrictions related to the coronavirus as the number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths declined after an Omicron variant-fueled wave earlier this year.
Last week, a US court struck down a federal mask mandate for air travel and other forms of public transportation, ruling that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) overruled its authority when issuing health orders. done.
Conservative politicians, who are generally opposed to pandemic-related mandates and restrictions, hailed the court’s decision.
But the CDC stressed that masks are the most effective way to protect people from the virus in crowded and poorly ventilated places.
“CDC believes this is a valid order, within CDC’s legal authority to protect public health,” the agency said in a statement after the decision. “CDC continues to recommend that people wear masks in all indoor public transportation settings.”
The US Department of Justice has appealed the court’s decision, pointing to a CDC statement that said the mask mandate for travel is “necessary to protect public health”.
