Kamala Harris tests negative for COVID-19 after 2 associated with campaign test positive
Sen. Kamala Harris tested negative for coronavirus on Thursday, according to an aide, but will not return to in-person campaigning until Monday after her communications director tested positive Wednesday night.
Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff, also tested negative Thursday, according to the aide.
The positive test for Liz Allen, Harris' communications director, came back late Wednesday night after Allen attended personal, non-campaign events, according to the campaign. A non-campaign flight crew member also tested positive for coronavirus.
Allen traveled with Harris to Arizona last Thursday and was with Harris for nearly a week in Salt Lake City for the vice-presidential debate. The campaign says it is temporarily suspending Harris' travel out of "an abundance of caution."
"Neither of these people have had contact with Vice President Biden, Senator Harris or any other staffers since testing positive or in the 48 hours prior to their positive test results," said Biden Campaign Manager Jen O’Malley Dillon in a statement.
Harris had a robust travel schedule planned for the next few days. She was slated to travel Thursday to Asheville and Charlotte, North Carolina, for the state’s first day of early voting. She was also expected to travel to Ohio and Pennsylvania this weekend.
Biden's schedule will go on uninterrupted, according to O’Malley Dillion, because he was not in direct contact with either of the people who tested positive as defined by the CDC.
While Allen was present during Biden’s joint event with Harris in Arizona, the campaign announced Thursday that he has tested negative for COVID-19, the eighth time the campaign has released negative test results for the former vice president.
Biden's schedule Thursday includes a virtual fundraiser and the ABC Town Hall.
When pressed on whether the campaign can continue a robust travel schedule given the rising rates of COVID-19 across the country, including in key battleground states like Wisconsin, the campaign says there is an ongoing discussion about the safety of travel in the final 19 days of the campaign.
"We're confident that we have the process and protocols in place to be able to do that safely as we've had throughout. But we're also very mindful, you know, as we see this uptick in COVID, that safety is the most important element of what we're doing and ensuring that nobody's in harm's way, and we'll continue to do that," O’Malley Dillon said.
