Fourth White House press aide tests positive for COVID-19

White House assistant press secretary Jalen Drummond tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, according to a Bloomberg News reporter, adding to the growing list of people to contract the virus after attending a White House Rose Garden ceremony.

Drummond is the third aide under White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany to test positive for COVID-19. Press deputies Chad Gilmartin and Karoline Leavitt have also reportedly tested positive for the virus, according to CNN, and McEnany herself tested positive on Monday. 

Drummond was reportedly in attendance at the White House Rose Garden event on Sept. 26, in which President Trump announced his nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as an associate Supreme Court justice.

Since the event, multiple attendees close to the president have tested positive for the virus, including the president himself and first lady Melania Trump. 

Others around the president who have tested positive include former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and Sens. Ron Johnson (Wis.), Mike Lee (Utah) and Thom Tillis (N.C.). 

Zeke Miller, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA), said in a statement that he was “concerned” by the reported diagnosis, and has not been provided information by the White House. “We are told that close contacts for any cases will be traced and notified by the White House Medical Unit according to CDC guidelines,” Miller said, referring to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

“The press office has informed us that WHMU has assessed that there are no close-contacts among the press corps for any cases confirmed today,” Miller also said Tuesday.

The WHCA announced last Friday that three White House correspondents have tested positive for COVID-19, and several others are self-isolating pending testing. 

The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.