Two staffers in Gavin Newsom’s office test positive for COVID-19

Governor says that he wasn’t exposed to those who had been infected

Two people who work in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office at the California state Capitol have tested positive for COVID-19, but Newsom had not been exposed to either, the governor said Wednesday afternoon.

One person is an intern in his office, and the other is a staff member in a state agency who worked with his staff, Newsom said. The contact- tracing process, led by the Department of Public Health, is underway and the appropriate people have been isolated, he said.

“It’s just another reminder of how easily transmitted this disease is, how despite some of the good news in our positivity rates and the stability we’re seeing in our our case rates across the state, how virulent this disease remains and how easily transmittable this disease continues in his to be ,” News oms aida ta conference in Solano County after being asked about the issue by reporters.

Newsom said he has been tested multiple times in recent weeks and months, most recently one hour before President Donald Trump visited California to discuss wildfires with him Sept. 14. “I haven’t tested positive,” Newsom said.

“I’ve been tested on multiple occasions.”

Newsom noted that California’s overall COVID-19 positivity rate has fallen to 2.4% — down from roughly 8% a few months ago The governor and his staff declined to release specific details that they said would identify the intern in the governor’s office or the employee in the other agency.

“The individual had not interacted with the governor or staff that routinely interacts with the governor,” Newsom’s press secretary Nathan Click said in a statement, referencing the intern.

The other employee “works in a shared workspace with some staff from the governor’s office,” Click said.

He added that Newsom’s staff was notified Monday of the positive test.

“In this instance as well, the individual had not interacted with the governor or staff that routinely interacts with the governor,” he added. The areas where the pair worked will be deep- cleaned, he said.

Speaking at a walnut orchard in Winters to sign an executive order on land preservation, Newsom said that some of his staff members are now “isolated” after coming into contact with the two individuals. But he said he didn’t know how many people from his staff are in quarantine. A significant number of workers in the governor’s office have been working from home during the pandemic, he noted, mostly interacting by video conference, and workers still in the office have been wearing masks, practicing social distancing and taking other precautions.

“We are going through a contact tracing process led by the Department of Public Health, and they have both been isolated,” Newsom said. “We are working back from that frame to make sure that everybody is appropriately tested and anyone that has been in direct contact also goes through the protocols and procedures we have put out.”

In recent days, more than 20 people who work in the White House, including President Trump, first lady Melania Trump, senior adviser Stephen Miller and press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, have tested positive for the disease.

Though Trump has downplayed recommendations from health officials to wear masks and to social distance, often appearing in public without a mask, Newsom regularly wears one and has authorized Dr. Mark Ghaly, secretary of the state’s Department of Health and Human Services, to have a weekly coronavirus update where he takes questions from journalists.

“It’s just another reminder of how easily transmitted this disease is, how despite some of the good news in our positivity rates and the stability we’re seeing in our our case rates across the state, how virulent this disease remains and how easily transmittable this disease continues to be.” Gov. Gavin Newsom