White House Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre arrives for a press briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC on May 26, 2021.
NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images
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NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images
White House Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre arrives for a press briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC on May 26, 2021.
NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images
A member of the Biden administration has tested positive for COVID-19 after accompanying the president to Poland.
“This afternoon, after returning from the President’s trip to Europe, I took a PCR test. That test came back positive,” Karine Jean-Pierre, Biden’s deputy press secretary, said in a statement Sunday.
Jean-Pierre said she saw Biden at a meeting Saturday, but they were socially distanced, and he would not be considered a close contact by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.
“Thanks to being fully vaccinated and boosted, I have only experienced mild symptoms,” she said.
Jean-Pierre said she will be working from home and isolated for a minimum of five days, per CDC recommendations, and return to the White House when she receives a negative coronavirus test.
“I am sharing the news of my positive test today out of an abundance of transparency,” she said.
Biden visited Poland last weekend to meet with other member allies of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
While there, he discussed additional sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” Biden said.
Another of Biden’s staffers, Press Secretary Jen Psaki, contracted COVID-19 shortly before the Poland trip and stayed behind.
She also said Biden was not considered a close contact. Biden tested negative shortly after, Psaki said in a statement.
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