Kamala Harris decamps for California in wake of COVID-19 exposure scare By Sarah May | December 26, 2021
Given all of the controversy and rumors that have surrounded her in recent weeks, it is not surprising that Vice President Kamala Harris would be eager to leave D.C., and that is precisely what she did on Wednesday night, flying to Los Angeles for a holiday break after having spent a day with a staffer who ultimately tested positive for COVID-19, as Breitbart reports.
Vice presidential spokesperson Symone Sanders confirmed to reporters that a staff member in whose presence Harris spent much of Tuesday received a positive coronavirus test result on Wednesday.
Upon learning that outcome, Harris herself was tested Wednesday morning, undergoing both a PCR test as well as an antigen test, and according to Sanders, she will be tested again on Friday as well as the following Monday.
Given Harris’ status as a fully-vaccinated individual, guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not call for her to quarantine, despite the close contact with an infected person, a fact which allowed her to move forward with traveling to California, where she and her husband plan to remain until the new year.
As NPR noted, the staffer with whom Harris had been in close proximity was the second such high- level exposure of the week, with the White House revealing that a staffer who recently flew on Air Force One with President Joe Biden also received a positive COVID-19 test result.
Additional concerns about the president were raised by many who watched his Tuesday address on the administration’s pandemic response and noted the persistent coughing in which he engaged throughout the presentation, the >i>New York Post reported.
Suspicions were further raised when White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked Tuesday about Biden’s status following the close contact with an infected person, and she replied that he was “asymptomatic,” a term typically used to someone who has in fact tested positive for an illness, but is experiencing none of the usual effects.
According to CNBC, Biden tested negative for the viral infection on Wednesday, and it was reported that the president had been masked the entire time he was near the staff member who subsequently tested positive, and though the commander in chief is fully vaccinated and has received a booster shot, so had the individual who ultimately came down with COVID-19.
Coronavirus worries aside, Harris is surely relieved to be taking a relatively extended break from the conflict, criticism, and dismal poll numbers that have been plaguing her for months and which may ultimately sink her own Oval Office aspirations once and for all.
Poster Comment:
Don't say I told ya so.