President Joe Biden listens during a meeting with his task force on supply chain issues on Wednesday.
Patrick Semansky / AP
hide captions
switch captions
Patrick Semansky / AP
President Joe Biden listens during a meeting with his task force on supply chain issues on Wednesday.
Patrick Semansky / AP
The White House says President Biden has tested negative for COVID-19.
The PCR test was performed after a White House staffer – who flew with Biden on Air Force One on Friday – tested positive for COVID on Monday. The staff, who are fully vaccinated and reinforced, symptoms experienced on Sunday. Biden tested negative on Sunday and Monday, but was tested again on Wednesday as a precaution.
Results came a day after Biden talked about his latest plan for the omicron variant is highly contagious – and tries to reassure vaccinated people about mutant cases.
“Because omicrons spread so easily, we’re going to see some fully vaccinated people get COVID, which is likely to happen in large numbers,” Biden said. “There will be positive cases in every office, even here in the White House.”
The White House has put in place strict procedures to try to prevent the spread of COVID on its campus, where the president lives and where hundreds of people work each day. Biden is regularly tested for the virus. Those traveling with him or those scheduled to be present at meetings with him are checked in advance.
After Thanksgiving, when Biden’s voice became noticeably hoarse, the doctor gave him a battery test to determine he really had just caught a cold. Biden blamed his nephew Beau, who brought both the germ and the kiss to the family gathering in Nantucket. The White House has released a memo from the president’s doctor verifying that he does not have COVID.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki have COVID in October, making her the highest-ranking White House official to publicly disclose a case. There are other cases at the White House as well, but the administration does not discuss them publicly.
