White House official, Pelosi aide infected
Case could be linked to Texas Dems meeting
The two people who attended an event together contracted COVID-19, even though both were fully vaccinated. At least one of the cases appears to be linked to Texas Democrats who traveled to Washington in protest over a voting bill.
WASHINGTON – A White House official and an aide to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., tested positive for the coronavirus after attending an event together.
At least one of the cases may be linked to a group of Texas Democrats who came to Washington last week amid a battle in the state Legislature over voting rights. Six of the Texas lawmakers have tested positive for COVID-19, including a former nurse who announced her test result Tuesday.
Both the White House official and Pelosi staffer who tested positive were fully vaccinated. COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective, but a small percentage of people who are fully vaccinated can still get COVID-19 if exposed to the virus that causes it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki confirmed the official’s positive test during a briefing Tuesday.
“This individual was out of the office when they were tested yesterday, and they’ve stayed out of the office,” Psaki said.
She said there have been other previously undisclosed breakthrough cases of COVID-19 among White House staff but declined to say how many. None of those who tested positive was in a high-level position, Psaki said.
Vaccinated people who have breakthrough infections are much less likely to get severely sick or die.
Psaki declined to say where the staffer may have been exposed to COVID-19.
Pelosi’s office confirmed that an aide to the speaker tested positive for COVID-19 after meeting with the group of nearly 60 Texas Democrats.
“Yesterday, a fully-vaccinated senior spokesperson in the speaker’s press office tested positive for COVID after contact with members of the Texas state legislature last week,” Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff, Drew Hammill, said in a statement.
The Texas Democrats fled the state to deny quorum to Republicans pushing for voting restrictions. State Rep. Donna Howard of Austin said Tuesday that she tested positive for COVID-19 – becoming the sixth member of the group to do so.
The Texas lawmakers lobbied for a federal voting rights bill, an effort that included a meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris.
The vice president’s office said she has since tested negative for the coronavirus and is being monitored.
“We take these precautions incredibly seriously and abide by the health – the guidance of our health and medical experts,” Psaki said Monday when asked whether the administration is taking any new precautions to protect President Joe Biden’s health after Harris’ meeting with Texas Democrats.
On Capitol Hill, Brian Monahan, the attending physician for Congress, released a memo Tuesday warning about the “severe threat” of the delta variant of COVID-19 for unvaccinated people.
The Biden administration has not disclosed how many White House staffers are vaccinated.