Kamala Harris tests positive for COVID-19

Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for COVID-19, a statement from her press secretary announced Tuesday.

Press secretary Kirsten Allen said Harris tested positive on both rapid and PCR tests.

"She has exhibited no symptoms, will isolate and continue to work from the Vice President’s residence," Allen stated.

Harris has not been in close contact with President Joe Biden or first lady Jill Biden as their travel schedules haven’t aligned recently. 

Harris, 57, received her first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine weeks before taking office and a second dose just days after Inauguration Day in 2021. She received a booster shot in late October and an additional booster on April 1. 

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

7016ed07-Vice President Kamala Harris Visits UCSF Mission Bay

Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks following a visit with expecting families and caregivers at UCSF Mission Bay on April 21, 2022 in San Francisco, CA. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Harris’ diagnosis comes a month after her husband, Doug Emhoff, recovered from the virus, as a wave of cases of the highly transmissible omicron subvariant has spread through Washington’s political class, infecting Cabinet members, White House staffers and lawmakers including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Allen said Harris would follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines "and the advice of her physicians." It was not immediately clear whether she is being prescribed any antiviral treatments.

Harris’ positive test underscored the persistence of the highly contagious virus even as the U.S. eases restrictions in a bid to revert to pre-pandemic normalcy.

After more than two years and nearly a million deaths in the U.S., the virus is still killing more than 300 people a day, according to the CDC. The unvaccinated are at a far greater risk, more than three times as likely to test positive and 20 times as likely to die from the virus than those who have received at least a primary dose of the vaccines, according to the public health agency

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