Vice President Mike Pence and his wife both tested negative for COVID-19, a spokesperson said late Saturday.
The vice president and Karen Pence took a test for the illness after a staff member in his office contracted the illness derived from the novel strain of coronavirus that was first identified in Wuhan, China, in December. The deadly virus has so far infected 312,000 people globally and claimed more than 13,000 lives, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, as of early Sunday.
Pence told reporters on Saturday, during a news briefing of the White House’s coronavirus task force, that neither he nor President Donald Trump had had direct contact with the staff member who’d tested positive. Pence’s office had announced Friday that an unidentified staffer had contracted the disease.
Last Saturday, it was announced that President Trump tested negative for the virus, after concerns were raised about his possible exposure to the pathogen at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida after his interaction with members of the Brazilian delegation who later tested positive for COVID-19.