A member of the press who traveled with President-elect Joe Biden to Georgia on Tuesday has since tested positive for the novel coronavirus, leading the transition team to direct one of its communications staffers to quarantine out of an abundance of caution, Biden’s office said.
The journalist received a positive COVID-19 test Wednesday, after serving in the Biden transition press pool on both Monday and Tuesday. Biden’s office said in a statement that officials “immediately” began contact tracing and determined that the member of the press was never in close contact with Biden as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“Out of an abundance of caution, one member of our traveling communications team who was in close contact with this individual will self-quarantine for 7 days and other members of the traveling press pool who were in close contact with this individual are not on pool duty today and will not be until they clear the window for being infectious,” Biden’s office said. “No other member of the President-elect’s staff has been assessed to be at risk for exposure or transmission of the virus.”
The White House Correspondents’ Association in an email to reporters disclosing the positive test said the individual in question is experiencing “mild symptoms” and isolating so as not to spread the virus. The case was revealed just before Biden introduced Pete Buttigieg as his nominee for Transportation secretary in Wilmington, Del.
Coronavirus cases are surging across the country and the United States surpassed 300,000 deaths due to COVID-19 earlier this week. Health experts have warned that cases could further increase after the holidays and have discouraged Americans from traveling or gathering in large numbers.
Wednesday’s case was the first instance of a member of the Biden transition pool testing positive for COVID-19. The White House pool, which draws from many of the same reporters, has recorded a handful of cases. Journalists who cover the White House and Biden are tested for coronavirus as a precautionary measure.