Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff tested positive for coronavirus on Tuesday after spending the afternoon with AmeriCorps at an environmental community service project in Northeast Washington, D.C.
‘Earlier today, the Second Gentleman tested positive for COVID-19,’ the White House released in a statement Tuesday evening.
The statement said that Vice President Kamala Harris tested negative for COVID-19 on Tuesday, but will continue to test now that her husband contracted the virus.
‘Out of an abundance of caution, the Vice President will not participate in tonight’s event,’ it added, referencing the Equal Pay Day celebration for Women’s History Month at the White House.
The event still went on as planned Tuesday evening, but President Joe Biden made a major faux pas by accidentally claiming he was the one who got COVID.
‘The first lady’s husband contacted COVID,’ Biden said, before someone off to the side pointed out that statement would mean he was the one with the virus.
‘That’s right,’ he said to laughter.
‘She’s fine. Second lady – the first gentleman, how about that?’ he said with a smile as he continued his gaffe regarding the relations of who had coronavirus.
First Gentleman Doug Emhoff (left) tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, causing wife Vice President Kamala Harris (right) to skip out on a Women’s History Month event ‘out of an abundance of caution’ despite testing negative
At the White House event, President Joe Biden made a major gaffe by saying he tested positive for coronavirus. ‘The first lady’s husband contacted COVID,’ Biden said, before someone off to the side pointed out that statement would mean he was the one with the virus
Biden told the crowd to send ‘our love’ to Harris, the first woman to serve as vice president, since she could no longer attend the event celebrating women in the workforce and promoting equal pay between men and women as part of Women’s History Month.
Emhoff’s positive test came after former President Barack Obama announced on Sunday that he contracted coronavirus, but claimed wife Michelle was clear.
Hours before news broke of his positive test, Emhoff was promoting the White House event.
‘I took a step away from my career to support our first woman vice president, who happens to be my wife, Kamala Harris,’ he told reporters during his trip to an urban garden in D.C. Tuesday afternoon.
‘So it was something that was a no brainer to do, but I love practicing law. I loved every minute of it, but this is so rewarding,’ he added.
‘While I do miss what I was doing,’ the country’s first second gentleman said, ‘if I was if I was going to step away from it, this is such an incredible honor to be able to do this and also, again, to support my wife.’
‘It’s important for men to step up and support women and not just say they’re doing it, not just think they’re doing it, but actually do it.’
‘So I’m hoping to set a good example by what I’ve done,’ he concluded in reference to giving up his career as a lawyer to move to Number One Observatory Circle with Harris.
