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Biden aide tests positive for coronavirus: transition team
WILMINGTON, United States, Dec 18, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – US President-elect Joe
Biden’s incoming White House senior advisor, congressman Cedric Richmond, has
tested positive for Covid-19 after having open-air “interactions” with Biden,
the transition team said Thursday.
Richmond traveled independently to the state of Georgia to campaign Tuesday
with Biden for a pair of Democrats in tight runoff elections against
incumbent Republican senators.
“Richmond’s interactions with the president-elect happened in open air,
were masked and totaled less than 15 consecutive minutes, the CDC’s timeframe
for close contact,” transition spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield said in a
statement, referring to the guidelines laid out by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention.
She said the congressman, who will serve as director of the Office of
Public Engagement in the White House, “was not in close contact, as defined
by the CDC, with the president-elect” or with the Democratic candidates Jon
Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.
Biden, 78, tested negative for Covid-19 on Thursday, his team said.
Richmond, 47, developed symptoms on Wednesday and took a rapid test which
came back positive, according to Bedingfield. A follow-up test was also
positive, and Richmond entered a 14-day quarantine.
Dozens of people in President Donald Trump’s orbit have caught the virus
which has led to at least 310,000 American deaths.
The latest to come down with Covid-19 is Interior Secretary David
Bernhardt, who reportedly tested positive on Wednesday ahead of a cabinet
meeting with Trump and as a result did not attend.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0919 hrs