A staffer for Vice President Mike Pence has tested positive for coronavirus, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany announced Friday.
Pence’s scheduled flight on Air Force Two to Des Moines, Iowa was delayed at Andrews Air Force Base with the vice president aboard for close to an hour after the staffer’s positive test was revealed. The infected staffer was not aboard, but six other aides who had been in contact with the staffer recently were requested to disembark and remain in Washington, D.C.
The White House medical office is currently attempting to determine who else in the White House may have had contact with the staffer, who has no symptoms and tested negative yesterday but positive Friday morning.
“We have put in place the guidelines that our experts have put forward to keep this building safe,” McEnany said during her Friday press briefing. “We clean the facility, we social distance, we keep people six feet away from each other.”
Another Pence staffer tested positive for the virus in March but has since returned to work.
The news comes just a day after reports broke that President Trump’s personal valet also tested positive for the virus. The valet reportedly had close contact with the president as he helped him with personal tasks, but Trump denied that was the case.
“I’ve had very little personal contact with this gentleman,” Trump said Thursday. “I know who he is, good person, but I’ve had very little contact.”