A White House aide who traveled with President Joe Biden to international summits in Europe last week tested positive for COVID-19 before the president returned to the U.S., administration officials confirmed Thursday.
The aide and some of Biden’s other traveling staff remained in Scotland after the president attended the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, Bloomberg reported. The exact number of staff members is unclear, the news organization reported.
White House officials said that out of an abundance of caution, the staff members who were in close contact with the aide did not return to the U.S. aboard Air Force One, according to The Associated Press. Those staff members flew home on a different government plane, the news organization reported.
Biden aides tests positive for coronavirus after UN summit in Scotland https://t.co/uIjq4Uhl79
— Bloomberg (@business) November 4, 2021
The aide, who tested positive via a rapid test, is in quarantine in Scotland and is awaiting a follow-up PCR test, a White House official told Bloomberg. The aide is not believed to have had close contact with the president. The aide is fully vaccinated and asymptomatic, according to the AP.
Biden tested negative on Tuesday, a White House official said Thursday.
According to Bloomberg, the aide is a member of the National Security Council staff. Staff members who had contact with the aide have so far tested negative, the official told the news organization.
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Travelers with Biden on his five-day trip to Rome and Scotland were tested daily, according to the AP. The positive test is not believed to be related to White House press secretary Jen Psaki’s diagnosis with COVID-19.
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