Jen Psaki.Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty
White House Press Sec.Jen Psakihas tested positive for COVID-19, according to a statement she released Tuesday.
“Today, in preparation for travel to Europe, I took a PCR test this morning. That test came back positive, which means I will be adhering to CDC guidance and no longer be traveling on the President’s trip to Europe,” Psaki, 43, said.
PresidentJoe Biden, 79, tested negative with a PCR test on Tuesday, she added, after meeting with Psaki earlier this week.
This is the second time Psaki has canceled travel plans with the president because of positive results from a COVID-19 test.
Psaki, who is fully vaccinated and boosted, did not accompany the president on a trip to Europe in October because members of her family had been infected with the virus that causes COVID-19.
Psaki latertested positive herself.
“Thanks to the vaccine, I have only experienced mild symptoms,” Psaki said Tuesday. “In alignment with White House COVID-19 protocols, I will work from home and plan to return to work in person at the conclusion of a five-day isolation period and a negative test.”
After working remotely for 10 days — and experiencing only mild symptoms — in early November, Psaki returned to work at the White House.
“It’s great to be back with all of you, although as a longtime hater of heels, I do miss my slippers,” shetold reporters when she was back at the podiumin the press briefing room. “I’m sure some of the women in this room can agree.”
Biden confirmed last week that hemet with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin"for seven-and-a-half minutes" at the Ireland Funds Gala at the National Building Museum, just prior to the announcement that Martin had tested positive forCOVID-19.
Biden’s time with Martin did not constitute “close contact,” per federal health officials, they were together for less than 15 minutes.
Breakthrough cases of COVID-19— infections that occur in people who have been fully vaccinated against the virus — are possible and expected, as the vaccines are not 100 percent effective. Still, vaccinated people who test positive will likely be asymptomatic or experience a far milder illness than if they were not vaccinated. The majority of deaths from COVID-19 — around 98 to 99 percent —are in unvaccinated people.
source: people.com
