Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for Covid-19 during routine testing on Tuesday after returning from a weeklong trip to California, the White House announced.
“Today, Vice President Harris tested positive for Covid-19 on rapid and PCR tests. She has exhibited no symptoms, will isolate and continue to work from the vice president’s residence,” said Kirsten Allen, the vice president’s press secretary, in a statement.
Harris, 57, will isolate and work from her residence. Allen added that Harris is taking Pfizer’s Paxlovid antiviral pills, which can reduce the risk of becoming severely ill, at the direction of her physicians.
According to White House officials, Harris has not been a close contact to either President Biden or first lady Dr. Jill Biden because of their recent travel schedules. Harris last saw Biden at the Easter Egg Roll on April 18, CNN reported.
The vice president will return to the White House once she tests negative.
She has been vaccinated and received two booster shots, completing her two-dose regimen of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine in January 2021. She received her first booster dose in late October 2021. Harris announced on Twitter she received her second booster shot on April 1, three days after federal regulators authorized a second dose of the vaccine for people over age 50.
The vice president’s positive diagnosis comes more than a month after her husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, tested positive for COVID-19.
Democratic senators, Ron Wyden of Oregon and Christopher S. Murphy of Connecticut also tested positive on Tuesday.