Vice President Mike Pence and Second Lady Karen Pence have both tested negative for the CCP virus, the White House announced on the evening of March 21.
“Pleased to report that the COVID-19 test results came back negative for both Vice President @Mike_Pence and Second Lady @KarenPence,” Katie Miller, press secretary for the vice president, said on Twitter.
The Pences said they would be tested on the afternoon of March 21 because a member of his staff earlier tested positive for the virus.
The vice president, who heads the White House’s coronavirus task force, told reporters that the staff member was last at the White House on March 16 but didn’t come into direct contact with him or President Donald Trump. Pence added that the affected individual had “mild cold symptoms,” but “he’s doing well.”
Pence said that while there was a priority to give tests to people with symptoms, he would take one due to his strategic role as chief of the task force. He said that neither he nor President Donald Trump had any direct contact with the staffer. Health authorities have traced the man’s contacts.
Pence and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, have urged Americans not to get tested unless they’re symptomatic, in order to preserve the personal protective equipment for medical workers, which is in shortage.
“If you don’t have symptoms, don’t do a test,” Pence said.
Brett Giroir, a four-star admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps who serves as the assistant secretary for health under the Trump administration, said at the briefing that testing should be prioritized for front-line staff dealing with the outbreak, as well as for those with symptoms, particularly if they fall into certain categories.
“Clearly, everyone across the country should understand that those hospitalized or in an ICU are a priority for testing. Symptomatic health care workers—for obvious reasons we want to make sure that their health is preserved and that they are not going to spread to those that may be seriously ill,” Giroir said.
