Pelosi was close to Biden this week.
QUICK FACTS:
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 82, has tested positive for Covid-19, a spokesman for the California Democrat said Thursday, CNN reports.
- “After testing negative this week, Speaker Pelosi received a positive test result for COVID-19 and is currently asymptomatic,” Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff Drew Hammill tweeted. “The Speaker is fully vaccinated and boosted, and is thankful for the robust protection the vaccine has provided.”
- Hammill reported Pelosi’s positive test result just before Pelosi was scheduled to have her weekly news conference, now canceled.
- The deputy chief of staff also said a planned congressional delegation to Asia led by Pelosi over the two-week congressional break “will be postponed to a later date.”
- Pelosi is currently asymptomatic, according to Hammill, who added that Pelosi tested negative earlier this week.
PELOSI WAS CLOSE TO BIDEN THIS WEEK:
- Pelosi was seen next to Joe Biden at the White House on Wednesday, as Biden signed into law a sweeping bill that overhauls the US Postal Service’s finances and allows the agency to modernize its service.
- The House physician said attendees Wednesday had to have had a negative test within 24 hours of the postal event, CNN notes, and the White House said Biden was not considered a close contact of Pelosi.
- The White House also indicated Biden had tested negative Wednesday night.
BACKGROUND:
- As speaker of the House, Pelosi is second in the line of presidential succession behind the vice president, CNN notes.
- Reps. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, Joaquin Castro of Texas, Gregory Meeks of New York, Adam Schiff of California, Derek Kilmer of Washington, Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, and Scott Peters of California also announced positive COVID tests results this week.
- All of these positive cases reportedly originate in Washington, where the Gridiron dinner was held. The event brought together journalists and government officials. Attendees had their vaccination status checked, but negative Covid-19 tests were not required to enter, according to CNN.
