Nancy Pelosi tests positive for Covid-19
The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has tested positive for Covid-19, a day after appearing unmasked at a White House event with Joe Biden.
Pelosi received a positive test result for Covid-19 and is asymptomatic, her spokesperson, Drew Hammill, said on Thursday in a tweet. He said she had tested negative earlier in the week.
“The speaker is fully vaccinated and boosted, and is thankful for the robust protection the vaccine has provided,” Hammill said.
Pelosi will “quarantine consistent with CDC guidance, and encourages everyone to get vaccinated, boosted and test regularly”, he said.
The 82-year-old Democratic leader’s announcement came ahead of her weekly press appearance on Capitol Hill. The House is set to start a twoweek spring recess.
Pelosi also postponed a planned congressional delegation trip to Asia she was scheduled to lead.
The diagnosis comes amid a string of positive Covid-19 diagnoses on Capitol Hill after numerous government officials attended Washington’s Gridiron Club and Foundation dinner on Saturday evening.
According to Hamill, Pelosi did not attend the dinner but a handful of officials tested positive after the gala.
Those include the attorney general, Merrick Garland, commerce secretary, Gina Raimondo, and Representatives Joaquín Castro and Adam Schiff.
According to the dinner invitation, guests were required to “bring a picture ID and vaccine documents either on paper, in pictures on phones or through Apps like Bindle or Clear”. Despite the vaccine requirement, organizers did not require attendees to take a Covid-19 test before attending the dinner.
Representatives Katherine Clark and Scott Peters also announced on Wednesday that they had tested positive for Covid-19, although neither of them attended the dinner.
Other Capitol Hill officials who tested positive this week include Jamal Simmons, Vice-President Kamala Harris’s communication director. The vice-president’s office announced that he “was in close contact to the vicepresident as defined by CDC guidance” and that Harris “plans to continue with her public schedule”.
On Wednesday, the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, said great precautions were taken to protect Biden from Covid-19 and that anyone
who meets or travels with him is required to get tested beforehand.
When asked about other public events at the White House in which Biden is often seen without a mask, Psaki replied, “It’s not at public events – I’m talking about at meetings, but again, I can check on the protocols for public events.”