It was announced by the Biden/Harris campaign on Wednesday that two staffers have tested positive for coronavirus, prompting Harris to take a break from the campaign trail. The statement read that Sen. Kamala Harris' communications director tested positive, as well as a member of the flight crew.
Statement by Biden for President Campaign Manager: Late on the night of Wednesday, October 14th, we learned that two individuals involved in the campaign tested positive for COVID-19: a non-staff flight crew member and Liz Allen, communications director to Senator Harris. pic.twitter.com/jODH9IQvAC
— CSPAN (@cspan) October 15, 2020
The positive test has lead Harris to suspend all travel and in-person events until Monday. Harris stated that she has had two negative tests, and has not shown any symptoms. Harris' campaign activities will proceed, albeit virtually.
Late last night, I learned a non-staff flight crew member & a member of my team tested positive for COVID. I wasn’t in close contact—as defined by the CDC—with either during the 2 days prior to their positive tests.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) October 15, 2020
I've had 2 negative tests this week & am not showing symptoms.
The diagnoses come in the wake of President Trump's recovery from the virus as he gets back to in-person campaigning. The Trump administration was mocked in the media and by Democrats for the positive test as critics suggested that the positive diagnosis came as a result of Trump ignoring health precautions.
Such concerns were brought up at the vice presidential debate between Harris and Vice President Mike Pence, where the debate moderator asked Pence about the Trump campaign's lack of masks and social distancing at events. It was Harris' fear of contracting the virus that led to the installation of plexi-glass shields between the two debaters.
Biden's campaign stated that the presidential candidate was not exposed to the virus, as he has tested negative multiple times since the last time the two campaigned together on October 8 in Arizona.
Update: @JoeBiden has tested negative for COVID-19 for the 8th time since Trump tested positive in a test last night.
— Molly Nagle (@MollyNagle3) October 15, 2020
“As part of our regular routine of testing, Vice President Biden underwent PCR testing for COVID-19 last night and COVID-19 was not detected,” the campaign says
The hiatus puts a hold on the Biden campaign's push through the critical swing states of Ohio and North Carolina, both of which were won by Trump in 2016 and were supposed to be visited by Harris before the weekend. Harris will be conducting the campaign events virtually instead.
Jen O'Malley Dillon, the Biden campaign manager, said that the campaigning was beginning contact tracing "to notify everyone who came into contact with the individuals during the potential infection window."
Harris clarified in a statement that "both the crew member and the staff member were wearing N95 masks at all points they were near me, and our doctors believe that we were not exposed under CDC guidelines."
Joe Biden will continue to host in-person campaign events over the next few days.
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