Coronavirus

White House Official And Hill Staffers Test Positive For COVID

Several vaccinated staffers and one member of Congress have tested positive.

White House Official And Hill Staffers Test Positive For COVID
Susan Walsh / AP

Congress’ attending physician says the delta variant has been detected on Capitol Hill.  

Several vaccinated staffers and one member of Congress have tested positive. 

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a polio survivor, is urging anyone who hasn't been vaccinated to get the shot. 

"These shots need to get in everybody's arm as rapidly as possible or we're going to be back in a situation in the fall that we don't yearn for that we went through last year," said Sen. Mitch McConnell.

One of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's aides tested positive for COVID-19 after meeting with a group of Democratic state representatives from Texas who later tested positive.  

Pelosi's spokesperson says the staffer didn’t come in contact with the speaker after exposure.   

A vaccinated White House official also tested positive.

"The White House Medical Unit has conducted contact tracing interviews and determined no close contacts among White House principals or staff or the president, " said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki. 

Psaki says there have been other vaccinated White House staffers who tested positive, but she couldn’t give a number.