White House domestic policy adviser Susan Rice said Monday that she had tested positive for COVID-19 — just five days after attending a meeting with President Biden.
“I’m feeling fine and grateful to be vaccinated and double boosted,” Rice wrote on Twitter. “I last saw the President in person on Wednesday—masked—and under CDC guidance he is not considered a close contact.”
Rice’s positive test follows the COVID-19 diagnosis of Secretary of State Antony Blinken last week following the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Biden attended the 2,600-person dinner and shook hands with ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl, who tested positive shortly afterward.
The virus has killed nearly 1 million Americans and Biden’s advanced age puts him at higher risk. He has received four shots of Pfizer’s vaccine, however, which reduces the likelihood of serious illness or death.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki frequently says it is possible that Biden will one day test positive for the coronavirus. He regularly interacts unmasked with White House guests and attendees at events around the country.
Then-President Donald Trump fell ill with COVID-19 in the fall of 2020 after hosting a Rose Garden celebration of his nomination of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Trump was hospitalized for three nights at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland.
Last month, a large number of prominent DC Democrats tested positive for the virus, including Vice President Kamala Harris on April 26.
In early April, more than 10% of attendees at the Gridiron Dinner in DC tested positive after journalists and officials mingled largely without masks at the white tie gala.
Gridiron attendees who tested positive included Attorney General Merrick Garland, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), Harris’ communications director Jamal Simmons and first lady Jill Biden’s spokesman Michael LaRosa.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), tested positive April 7 after attending two White House events with Biden. Biden kissed Pelosi on the cheek at one event and she stood behind his shoulder one day later at a bill-signing ceremony.