Emhoff tests positive for COVID-19, VP Harris still negative

Harris spokesperson Sabrina Singh said Harris would not participate in a planned Equal Pay Day event on Tuesday evening at the White House with President Joe Biden

Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff kisses his wife, Vice President Kamala Harris
Second gentleman Douglas Emhoff kisses Vice President Kamala Harris after her remarks during a Cancer Moonshot initiative event in the East Room of the White House on February 02, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff has tested positive for COVID-19, the White House announced Tuesday. Vice President Kamala Harris tested negative, but is curtailing her schedule as a result of her husband’s positive test.

Harris spokesperson Sabrina Singh said Harris would not participate in a planned Equal Pay Day event on Tuesday evening at the White House with President Joe Biden “out of an abundance of caution.”

“The Vice President tested negative for COVID-19 today and will continue to test,” she said.

Biden and Harris appeared together Tuesday afternoon and mingled with lawmakers at an event marking the signing of a $1.5 trillion government funding measure.

“He’s feeling very well, I’m told,” Biden said Tuesday evening at the event, noting Harris had to skip. “Let’s send her our love,” he told attendees.

US Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Douglas Emhoff arrive at the Elysee Palace for the inaugural dinner on the first day of the Paris Peace Forum on November 11, 2021 in Paris, France. (Photo by Kiran Ridley/Getty Images)

Harris and Emhoff both received their first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine weeks before taking office and their second dose just days after Inauguration Day in 2021. They received booster shots in late October.

Fully vaccinated and boosted people have a high degree of protection against serious illness and death from COVID-19, particularly the most common and highly transmissible Omicron variant.

Before Emhoff’s diagnosis was public, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden had tested negative for COVID-19 on Sunday.

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