A press aide for Vice President Mike Pence has contracted the coronavirus, the White House said Friday, one day after a Navy valet for President Trump tested positive.
The staffer, who Mr. Trump identified as a press person named “Katie,” tested positive early Friday after testing negative on Thursday.
The vice president has a spokeswoman named Katie Miller. She is married to Stephen Miller, a top aide to Mr. Trump.
“Mike knows about it and has done what he needs to do,” Mr. Trump said.
Mrs. Miller served as a lead press officer for the coronavirus task force after Mr. Pence was put in charge of it.
Mr. Pence and Mr. Trump have not come in contact with her recently, a senior administration official said.
Mr. Pence’s plane to Iowa was delayed for about an hour at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, as staff processed the news. The infected person was not scheduled to fly but had possibly been in contact with six people on the plane, so they were removed.
The staff members did not feel sick but were instructed to get tested and go home “out of an abundance of caution,” the official said. All of their tests came back negative.
About 10 members of Mr. Pence’s staff are tested daily, though many in the executive-branch offices are not tested as regularly.
The development underscores the reach of the pandemic, after the valet who sometimes serves Mr. Trump meals tested positive.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence are being tested daily and have always come back negative.
Ms. McEnany pointed to those test results in responding to a question about Mr. Trump’s decision to honor World War II veterans from a distance at a memorial ceremony on Friday without wearing a mask, even though many of them are elderly and vulnerable.
“This is the safest place you can come to,” White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told reporters.
Mr. Meadows said the president arranged for White House reporters to get tested Friday before leaving campus, for “peace of mind.”
Mr. Trump also said he stood a safe distance away as he honored elderly World War II veterans without wearing a mask Friday at a National Mall ceremony for the 70th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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