Jen Psaki announced she has COVID-19 and is experiencing mild symptoms.
The press secretary was set to go to Rome with President Biden for the Group of 20 summit but was pulled from the trip after a member of her household was positive for COVID-19.
She will also not join the president in Glasgow, Scotland, on Monday for a U.N. climate summit.
“Since then, I have quarantined and tested negative (via PCR) for COVID on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday,” Psaki said in a statement on Oct 31. “However, today, I tested positive for COVID.”
“Thanks to the vaccine, I have only experienced mild symptoms which has enabled me to continue working from home,” she added.
The 42-year-old also said she has not been in close proximity to Biden
“While I have not had close contact in person with the President or senior members of the White House staff since Wednesday – and tested negative for four days after that last contact — I am disclosing today’s positive test out of an abundance of transparency,” Psaki said.
Psaki said she met with the president in person on Tuesday, noting that they were six feet apart and wore masks.
The White House said Biden tested negative for the virus on Oct. 30. Moreover, anyone traveling with the President is tested daily. Biden and several other officials have received booster shots to accompany their COVID-19 vaccines.
“Psaki said earlier this year that Biden, who is fully vaccinated, is tested randomly every two weeks as surveillance, at the request of his physician, Kevin O’Connor,” per Reuters.
Principal deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre joined the President on his Europe trip.
After a 10-day quarantine and a negative rapid test, Psaki says she will return to work in person at the White House.
She is not the first high-ranking official from the Biden administration to contract COVID-19. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, 61, tested positive on Oct. 19.
