Democratic vice presidential nominee Senator Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff look one at the conclusion of her vice presidential campaign debate with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence held on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S., October 7, 2020.
Lucy Nicholson | Reuters
Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris will postpone travel after two people involved in the Biden presidential campaign tested positive for Covid-19, the campaign said Thursday.
The campaign learned late Wednesday that Liz Allen, Harris’ communications director, and a “non-staff flight crew member” contracted the coronavirus, according to a statement from campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon. Neither of the individuals who tested positive had contact with Harris or former Vice President Joe Biden in the 48 hours before their results came back.
Even so, O’Malley Dillon said the campaign canceled Harris’ travel through Sunday “out of an abundance of caution.” The California senator was scheduled to travel to swing-state North Carolina on Thursday.
The Biden campaign said both people who tested positive were on a flight with Harris on Oct. 8, but she was not within 6 feet of them for more than 15 minutes. Harris has taken two PCR tests for Covid-19 since the day of the flight, most recently Wednesday, and both came back negative.
Her husband, Douglas Emhoff, has taken three PCR tests since Oct. 8 and they returned negative. The campaign also canceled his planned travel on Thursday.
The news of infections to people involved in the Biden campaign follows an outbreak within President Donald Trump‘s White House, family and presidential campaign in which more than 30 have tested positive including Trump, the first lady and their son Barron.
Biden and Harris have targeted the president for what they call recklessness in flouting the best recommended practices for limiting the spread of the virus. Trump and his allies have mocked masks and social distancing practices despite their proven effectiveness in curtailing the spread of Covid-19.
Trump returned to in-person campaigning, complete with large crowds, as soon as doctors said he was no longer infectious. After Trump was hospitalized and treated for Covid-19 earlier this month, he has downplayed the effects of the virus even as it continues to spread across the country.
