House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tests positive for COVID-19
- Nancy Pelosi said she has tested positive for COVID-19.
- Pelosi's spokesperson said the House Speaker, who is fully vaccinated and boosted, will now quarantine.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, the latest powerful Democrat to contract the coronavirus in recent days as a wave of cases spreads among Washington's elite.
"The Speaker will quarantine consistent with CDC guidance, and encourages everyone to get vaccinated, boosted and test regularly," Pelosi spokesperson Drew Hammill wrote on Twitter.
Hammill said that Pelosi, who just turned 82 weeks ago, is fully vaccinated and has received her booster shots.
Besides former President Donald Trump, Pelosi, who is second in line to the presidency (excluding Biden himself), is the most powerful US official to contract the virus that has killed nearly 1 million Americans. Fully vaccinated and boosted Americans, especially older people like Pelosi, are at a greatly reduced risk to contract a severe case of COVID-19.
Trump's positive case came at a very different moment in the pandemic. Vaccines were still months away from emergency approval. White House chief of staff Mark Meadows later wrote that Trump, who was admitted to the special presidential suite at Walter Reed, was in far worse condition than the White House revealed at the time.
Psaki, who herself has covid twice, stressed on Wednesday that the White House goes beyond Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance when it comes to doing everything possible to protect Biden, the oldest-serving president in the nation's history. He has also been fully vaccinated and just received his third booster shot.
"So, I would say we take additional measures that go beyond what the CDC protocols and requirements are to ensure that we're doing everything we can to keep principals safe — the President, the Vice President, and others, of course, in the building," Psaki said.
Pelosi joins a string of other Democratic officials and top aides, including Attorney General Merrick Garland, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, and Vice President Kamala Harris' communications director Jamal Simmons who have all tested positive in recent days. DC Mayor Muriel Bowser revealed on Thursday that she too has COVID-19.
Politico previously reported that Simmons was considered a "close contact" of Harris, continuing a string of cases that have encircled Harris' office and the West Wing. Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff tested positive before this recent string.
Former Labor Secretary Tom Perez posted a photo of him and Pelosi wearing masks during an event for Perez's gubernatorial campaign in Sliver Spring, Maryland, on Wednesday night.
Many of these powerful officials attended the Gridiron dinner last weekend. The dinner is the main social event for the invite-only Gridiron Club, a social club for journalists, elected officials, and other elites. The white-tie affair reportedly did not have a testing requirement, which has led to angst throughout Washington as more and more people test positive.
It's unclear if Pelosi attended the dinner, but Garland and Raimondo were both in attendance. Raimondo was the Democratic guest of honor and delivered a series of jokes.
Reporters, who saw the news of Pelosi's positive test break, remarked at the odd moment of the pandemic once again rearing its head in Washington.
"This is the least safe place to be," one said before a string of journalists exited the room where Pelosi was set to deliver her weekly news conference.