Ashley Biden, the president's daughter, tests positive for COVID-19
President Joe Biden's daughter, Ashley Biden, has tested positive for COVID-19, according to a White House official.
The first daughter, 40, was scheduled to travel to Latin America this week with first lady Jill Biden.
The president and first lady are not considered a close contacts, according to the first lady's spokesperson, Michael LaRosa.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reaffirmed in Wednesday's briefing that the president was not considered a close contact of his daughter, who he hasn't seen in "about a week." She did not have guidance on when the president was last tested for COVID-19.
"[T]he president tests regularly throughout the week as part of a cadence as determined by his doctor," Jean-Pierre told reporters. "If his testing were to change because of the close contact, we’d let all of you know, but his cadence has not changed."
Ashley Biden will no longer be joining the first lady on her trip to Ecuador, Panama and Costa Rica, LaRosa said. Jill Biden was scheduled to depart Wednesday afternoon for Quito, Ecuador.
This is the second foreign trip Ashley Biden has had to drop out of in recent weeks. She was considered a close contact of someone who tested positive for COVID-19 before the first lady's trip to Poland, Romania and Ukraine earlier this month.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, who is currently meeting with health officials from G-7 countries in Germany, also tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, the agency said. The president is not considered a close contact, it said.
As the BA.2 subvariant has spread around Washington, several people within the president's inner circle have tested positive for COVID-19 in recent weeks, including Vice President Kamala Harris, White House communications director Kate Bedingfield, former press secretary Jen Psaki and Jean-Pierre herself.
The president has never been deemed a close contact. When asked how this was possible, Jean-Pierre reiterated Wednesday that "extra precautions" are taken around meetings with the president. Because she had a meeting with the president today, Jean-Pierre said she was tested, masked and the meeting was socially distanced.
Masks are now optional at the White House campus, though meetings with the president are often socially distanced, officials said. White House officials have also stressed that the president is up-to-date on COVID boosters.
Someone is considered a close contact if the person was within 6 feet of an individual with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 for at least 15 minutes over a 24-hour period, per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.
ABC News' Molly Nagle contributed to this report.
