DES MOINES, Iowa — A member of Vice President Mike Pence’s staff tested positive for coronavirus on Friday morning.
A senior administration official said the individual had not been in recent contact with the president or vice president. However, it caused a delay to Pence’s departure from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to Des Moines as six officials were removed from Air Force Two.
“This morning, we had someone on the vice president’s staff test positive, and so out of abundance of caution, we went back and looked into all the person’s contacts most recently,” he said.
“That’s why we asked some of our staff to deplane. Nobody else was exhibiting any symptoms or having any feeling of sickness. We asked them to go get tested and to go home out of an abundance of caution.”
He offered no further details of the staffer’s identity or role but added that the individual received a negative result when tested on Thursday.
Most passengers had taken their seats for departure when a number of officials were summoned to the front of the plane. Several then collected their bags and disembarked.
President Trump and Pence have both been criticized for failing to wear masks during public appearances. Another member of Pence’s team tested positive in March. The official said the vice president had been tested on Friday morning and that “the president has not had contact with this person recently.”
Pence is scheduled to meet religious leaders in Des Moines to discuss safely reopening places of worship and to hear about efforts to keep food supply chains running.
The staff member who tested positive was not traveling to Iowa with the vice president on Friday, according to a report from NBC News.
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On Thursday, a valet for Trump tested positive for COVID-19. The White House said the president and Pence were tested for the virus after the valet was diagnosed, and the tests yielded negative results.
