Several members of the U.S. Secret Service have tested positive for COVID-19, the contagious and potentially deadly disease caused by the coronavirus, multiple reports said Friday.
More than 30 members of the agency, whose employees are tasked with protecting the president, among other duties, have contracted COVID-19 since the outbreak started, Yahoo News first reported.
At least 11 members of the Secret Service were infected with COVID-19 as of Thursday evening, and 23 of their colleagues have recovered from the disease, according to Yahoo, which cited a daily report compiled by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Secret Service’s parent agency.
The New York Times subsequently reported the same figures, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.
Secret Service spokesperson Justine Whelan declined to say how many employees of the agency have contracted the coronavirus when reached for comment, Yahoo reported.
“To protect the privacy of our employee’s health information and for operational security, the Secret Service is not releasing how many of its employees have tested positive for COVID-19, nor how many of its employees were, or currently are, quarantined,” she told Yahoo, according to the outlet.
Sixty members of the Secret Service were self-quarantining as of Friday, Yahoo and USA Today each reported.
The reports about cases of COVID-19 being confirmed within the ranks of the Secret Service emerged as two White House aides tested positive for the disease with two days this week, including most recently Katie Miller, Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary on Friday.
Nationwide, more than 1.2 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed since January, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 77,000 have died within the U.S. as a result of the disease and over 198,000 have recovered, according to the university.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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