White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced that she tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday and that she has been experiencing mild symptoms. The vaccinated official says that she last saw President Joe Biden on Tuesday while wearing a mask and has not been in contact in person with senior members of the administration since Wednesday.
After dropping out of the president’s travel pool on Thursday to the G20 summit in Rome due to a family emergency, Psaki said on Sunday that members of her family tested positive for the coronavirus this week. “Since then, I have quarantined and tested negative (via PCR) for COVID on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday,” the press secretary wrote in a statement. “However, today, I tested positive for COVID.” She added that she will work from home and quarantine for ten days and will not come back to the White House until she tests negative.
Psaki is the most senior member of the administration to test positive for the coronavirus since Biden was inaugurated, though there have been some scares prior to taking office: Last October, weeks after former President Donald Trump tested positive for the virus, then-vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris briefly suspended her campaign travel after several aides got COVID. White House protocol has required staffers to wear masks inside, except for a small window of time this spring.
