Harris grounded as 3 members of Biden campaign test positive for COVID-19 [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• The campaign team of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said on Thursday that three of their members tested positive for COVID-19.
• Two infected members were traveling alongside vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris while the other infected member was part of Biden’s flight crew.
• As part of safety precautions, Harris would resort to a virtual campaign and would be back in-person on Monday while Biden would continue campaigning as usual.

At least three members of the campaign team for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden contracted the coronavirus, the team announced on Thursday.

Earlier this week, vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris’ trip got canceled due to the COVID-19 diagnosis of two of her campaign aides she recently traveled with.

According to campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon, Harris’ communications director Liz Allen and a non-staff flight crew member tested positive for COVID-19 after flying with the vice-presidential candidate on October 8.

On Thursday, O’Malley Dillon also shared that another member of Biden’s flight crew had contracted the virus. Despite the news, Biden’s team said that the former vice president would continue with his campaign as usual since the infected crew member was never in close contact with him (over 50 feet apart) at all times.

Harris’ itineraries, though, would be suspended until Sunday “out of an abundance of caution and in line with our campaign’s commitment to the highest levels of precaution,” the team said, in spite of not being in close contact with either of the two infected staff members.

Instead, the senator would attend to “robust and aggressive” virtual campaign events and would be back to physical campaigning on Monday.

O’Malley Dillon said that they learned about the recent infections late Wednesday.

“Neither of these people has had contact with Vice President Biden, Senator Harris, or any other staffers since testing positive or in the 48 hours prior to their positive test results,” she said in a statement.

With their contact tracing measures, the third positive case was identified around Thursday noon.

O’Malley Dillon said that the administrative crew member flew with Biden on Monday and Tuesday to Ohio and Florida. The said crew regularly tested negative for the virus until Thursday.

Biden’s campaign has been enforcing strict and careful safety precautions as the former vice president is already 77 years old. His team always make sure that people around him wear face coverings wherever he goes, and keeps voters and reporters, even former President Barack Obama, away from him for at least six feet away at gatherings.

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump tested positive for COVID-19 and was hospitalized. He came back to the campaign trail this week, saying he has already recovered and felt like “Superman” after being treated with dexamethasone steroid and an experimental drug developed by Regeneron.

Source: New York Post