Rep. Adam Schiff says former staffer tested positive for coronavirus

Congressman Adam Schiff said Sunday that his office was taking extra precautions after a former staffer tested positive for coronavirus.

The staffer left the office 10 days ago and was believed to have contracted the virus in that time, Schiff, D-Burbank, said in a statement. He said that the former staffer is “feeling better” and that none of his current staffers have reported symptoms.

Schiff did not confirm who the staffer was, but his office’s former director of investigations for the House Intelligence Committee, for which Schiff is the chair, confirmed on social media that he tested positive for coronavirus.

“My #COVID19 test came back positive,” said Daniel Goldman, a former assistant U.S. attorney and senior adviser for Schiff, on Twitter. “I am almost back to 100%. I’m lucky enough not to fall in the vulnerable category and, for me, it was just like the flu.”

Goldman tweeted his last day as director of investigations was March 6.

Schiff’s staff were taking precautions whether or not anyone in his office came in to contact with the staffer.

“Even prior to receiving this notification, we had postponed my district events and meetings, and requested that my staff telecommute from home for the foreseeable future out of an abundance of caution,” he said.

Schiff’s office hasn’t said which events were canceled. He has three offices: two locally, in Hollywood and Burbank, and a Washington, D.C., office.

He said additional updates could be coming. No one in the congressman’s staff was immediately available for comment — a voicemail noted that due to the coronavirus outbreak, “the congressman’s staff is working remotely.”

Several U.S. House members have self-quarantined in the last week after reporting they met with people later determined to have contracted coronavirus. U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina,

and Ted Cruz, RTexas, both said they would quarantine themselves for 14 days.

U.S. Congresswoman Julia Brownley, D-Oxnard, said she would self-quarantine last week after meeting with someone in Washington, D.C., who later was found to have the virus. She is the only California congress member so far to self-quarantine.

In a follow-up tweet, Goldman, who lives in New York City, described the process of getting himself and his family tested — or at least his attempt to do so.

“I was told that NYC hospitals STILL would not test my wife — with similar symptoms — unless admitted,” he said Sunday.