Psaki, Garland, Pelosi: Covid-19 spreads among leading Democrats and Biden officials
Growing numbers of prominent members of Congress and senior staffers in Washington DC are contracting Covid-19, sparking concerns about the risk to Joe Biden as unmasked events increase at the White House.
Celebrations were being held on Friday at the White House for the Senate confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson for the supreme court and the event was happening out of doors, said the press secretary, Jen Psaki, who missed the US president’s trip to Europe last month after testing positive for coronavirus.
The Georgia Democratic senator Raphael Warnock tested positive on Thursday shortly after voting in the Senate chamber to confirm Jackson.
Vice-President Kamala Harris, in her dual role as president of the Senate, officially announced the confirmation vote result for Jackson on Thursday afternoon, sitting mask-less on the dais, beaming as she marked the historic moment, and attended Jackson’s celebration at the White House on Friday, although her communications director has been infected.
And the House of Representatives speaker, Nancy Pelosi, tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday as well, after appearing unmasked at crowded indoor events with Biden on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Pelosi is the highest-ranking politician to contract Covid-19 since President Donald Trump was hospitalized with coronavirus in October 2020.
While Biden tested negative after his interactions with Pelosi, the White House acknowledged that Biden could test positive in the coming days.
“It is possible he will test positive for Covid at some point,” said the White House communications director, Kate Bedingfield, on CNN, noting that with antiviral treatments and vaccines “people are out living their lives and certainly the president of the United States is doing that”.
The Republican senator Susan Collins of Maine tested positive for Covid-19 and at least eight House representatives have also tested positive for Covid-19, along with the commerce secretary, Gina Raimondo, who announced that she tested positive on Wednesday.
Capitol Hill’s latest string of diagnoses came after several government officials attended a dinner held by Washington’s Gridiron Club and Foundation, the journalistic organization, on Saturday, which many are calling a “super-spreader” event.
Though Pelosi did not attend Saturday’s dinner, a growing number of officials who attended the gala have tested positive including the attorney general, Merrick Garland, who tested positive on Wednesday, Raimondo, Harris’s communication director, Jamal Simmons, and other prominent figures.
Harris had been in close contact with Simmons, who tested positive on Wednesday after the Gridiron dinner, said Harris’s press secretary, Kirsten Allen.
Simmons also attended events with Biden after Saturday’s event, and was pictured at an event in the White House East Room celebrating the Affordable Care Act, along with former president Barack Obama and Harris on Tuesday.
At least 37 positive Covid-19 cases have come out of Saturday’s event, according to a letter sent by the Gridiron Club to its members.
In a statement made on Wednesday, the Gridiron Club president, Tom DeFrank, said “there is no way of being certain about when they first contracted Covid.
“But they did interact with other guests during the night and we have to be realistic and expect some more cases,” said DeFrank. “Except in cases of public officials who have on their own disclosed their status, we will protect the privacy of guests who test positive.”
While guests at Saturday’s dinner were required to show proof of vaccination, a negative Covid test before the event was not mandated.
Amid an uptick of Covid-19 cases in Washington DC and among several politicians, lawmakers excluded $15bn in pandemic aid from a spending bill, cutting off access to vaccinations, Covid-19 tests and care for those without insurance.
Many cities, including Washington DC, have also dropped indoor mask mandates and vaccine requirements.
The US will also probably have a rise in cases in the next several weeks, said Dr Anthony Fauci, with a surge expected in the fall.
The last time there was a supreme court confirmation celebration at the White House it was for now-associate justice Amy Coney Barrett and several Republicans contracted Covid. The main event was held outside but there was a crowded reception indoors, shortly before the November 2020 presidential election – and before there was an approved vaccination for Covid.