Democratic vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris has halted campaign travel after two staffers have tested positive for COVID-19.
CNN:
Joe Biden’s campaign is halting the travel of his running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris, through this weekend after two people — a flight crew member and Harris’ communications director, Liz Allen — tested positive for coronavirus.
Harris was not in what the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention define as close contact with either person, Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement. Still, Harris’ planned trip to North Carolina on Thursday was scrapped, and she will remain off the road until Monday, she said.
“Neither of these people have had contact with Vice President Biden, Senator Harris or any other staffers since testing positive or in the 48 hours prior to their positive test results,” O’Malley Dillon said.
“After being with Senator Harris, both individuals attended personal, non-campaign events in the past week. Under our campaign’s strict health protocols, both individuals had to be tested before returning to their work with the campaign from these personal events,” she said. “These protocols help protect the campaign, the staff, and anyone who they may have contact with; the importance of having such protocols — which include testing before resuming duties, regular testing while working in-person, isolation after time off, and masking and distancing while on campaign duties — have been illustrated once again.”
Joe Biden’s campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon further mentioned that Harris had previously taken two PCR tests for coronavirus since October 8, including a test Wednesday which has come back negative. Apparently, though these two staffers who tested positive were on the October 8 flight with Harris the day after her debate with Mike Pence which I’m sure will lead to some speculation as to whether the staffers contracted the virus from possible contact with Pence’s staff.
By now we’re all aware of the Amy Coney Barrett super spreader event at the White House a few weeks back put on by Donald Trump that resulted in multiple infections including Trump himself, Melania, and a number of other GOP officials. Pence was also at this event but allegedly hasn’t test positive and you can only assume some of his staff were present at this event as well.
