A reporter covering President-elect Joe Biden’s transition tested positive for COVID-19, and a staffer is in quarantine “out of an abundance of caution.”
The Biden team announced the diagnosis in a Wednesday press release and said the reporter in question, who was not named, was not in close contact with the president-elect. The transition team noted that the reporter had been following coronavirus guidelines while covering Biden.
“Today, a member of the press pool who traveled with the President-elect yesterday received a positive PCR test for COVID-19,” the statement said. “We initiated contact tracing protocols immediately, and this person was not ever in close contact as defined by the CDC with the President-elect. He also adhered to masking and social distancing guidelines at all times during the trip.”
“Out of an abundance of caution, one member of our traveling communications team who was in close contact with this individual will self-quarantine for 7 days and other members of the traveling press pool who were in close contact with this individual are not on pool duty today and will not be until they clear the window for being infectious,” it continued.
Biden said during a Monday speech marking his Electoral College victory that he had “a bit of a cold.” During the speech, he could be heard coughing and clearing his throat as he spoke. It was announced on Wednesday that Biden had tested negative for COVID-19 after undergoing PCR testing for the contagion.
President Trump and several people close to him contracted the coronavirus in October. He was treated at Walter Reed Military Medical Center with remdesivir, an experimental polyclonal antibody cocktail, and was taking zinc, vitamin D, famotidine, melatonin, and a daily aspirin.
Since the start of the pandemic, the United States has had 16.7 million confirmed cases of the virus, resulting in more than 300,000 deaths.
