Vice President Kamala Harris has tested positive for Covid-19.
Her press secretary Kirsten Allen said in a statement Tuesday that Harris – who is fully-vaccinated and double boosted – received positive rapid and PCR test results after returning from a week in California.
‘She has not been a recent contact to the President or First Lady due to recent travel schedules,’ Allen said.
The vice president initially took two rounds of the Moderna vaccine and took her second booster shot on April 1. Harris, 57, is not currently experiencing symptoms.
Her husband Doug Emhoff contracted the virus in mid-March.
Harris returned from a week-long trip to her home state Monday night. The last time she was at a public event with Biden was at the White House Easter Egg Roll on April 18.
It is unlikely the Senate will be able to pass anything this week without Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who both also tested positive on Tuesday, and without Harris as the tie-breaking vote.
The last time Harris was at a public event with Biden was at the White House Easter Egg Roll on April 18
Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff hold a child as they participate in activities on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Monday, April 18,
Harris and Biden have not been pictured together since April 11 at an event in the Rose Garden
The Senate had been scheduled for a vote that was likely to fall along party lines to confirm Lisa Cook to the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors. The Senate could potentially still vote on and confirm Jerome Powell to serve another term as chair, Lael Brainard as vice chair and Phillip Jefferson as Fed governor as all three have attracted some bipartisan support and won’t have to surpass a filibuster.
The positive results could also scramble plans to confirm Alvaro Bedoya as chair of the Federal Trade Commission this week – his nomination advanced out of committee on a party line vote.
Earlier this month Harris was deemed a close contact of Covid-19 from her communications director Jamal Simmons, but was seen maskless celebrating the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki explained that it had been an ’emotional day’ for Harris, the nation’s first black vice president, to see the first black woman confirmed to the high court.
‘It was an emotional day. It was a historic day. And there were moments when she was not wearing a mask inside, including in a photo but she was wearing it 99.9% of the time,’ Psaki said at a briefing.
‘It was a decision made in the moment. But it doesn’t mean that we don’t all try to be model citizens here and abide by what the CDC protocols are on requirements,’ Psaki noted.
After two years and nearly a million deaths, Covid-19 is now killing over 300 people per day.
Harris was seen departing her residence at Naval Observatory by motorcade to listen in on the President’s Daily Brief, but apparently tested positive before she got to the meeting.
