March 21 (UPI) — A staff member in Vice President Mike Pence’s office tested positive for the coronavirus, the leader’s spokeswoman said Friday.
Press secretary Katie Miller said officials were attempting to discover who the staffer had contact with, in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.
“‪This evening we were notified that a member of the Office of the Vice President tested positive for the coronavirus,” she said. “Neither President [Donald] Trump nor Vice President Pence had close contact with the individual.”
Pence is Trump’s liaison with the White House Coronavirus Task Force, a team of administration health officials working to combat the spread of COVID-19 in the United States.
The executive branch had another brush with the coronavirus last week when Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and his staff visited Trump at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla. Bolsonaro’s press officer, Fabio Wajngarten, tested positive for the virus.
Trump and his daughter, adviser Ivanka Trump, both tested negative for the virus in the days after the Brazil visit.
