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(CNN) – United States Vice President Mike Pence does not plan to quarantine after his press secretary tested positive for coronavirus on Friday. Pence plans to be at the White House on Monday, his office said Sunday.
Pence spokesman Devin O’Malley said the vice president “will continue to follow the advice of the White House Medical Unit and is not in quarantine.”
“Additionally, Vice President Pence has tested negative every day and plans to be in the White House tomorrow,” O’Malley said in the statement.
The announcement comes as the White House continues to urge governors to start reopening their states, even as the virus has approached the west wing with news that top members of the coronavirus task force will go into self-quarantine, somehow. form, after being in contact with an individual who tested positive for the virus.
READ: Dr. Anthony Fauci to begin “modified quarantine”
An official said there is extreme sensitivity within the White House on the current state of affairs, with officials acknowledging the contradiction of telling states to reopen, while the White House improves protocols to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
The official said Pence’s agenda will likely be quieter in the coming days, but that he is not doing a full quarantine.
Those steps come after President Donald Trump confirmed Friday that Pence’s press secretary Katie Miller tested positive for the virus. The president said Miller has not contacted him, but noted that she has been in contact with Pence.
“She is a wonderful young woman, Katie, she gave very good results over a long period of time and suddenly she tested positive today,” Trump said during a meeting with Republican members of Congress at the White House.
The news of Miller’s positive test has left everyone in the west wing of the White House really nervous, a White House source told CNN. The source said Miller’s nature is to communicate in person and he makes many contacts in person during his daily work.
Her husband, Trump’s top adviser, Stephen Miller, is not expected to go to the White House in the immediate future, they told The New York Times people familiar with your plans. It tested negative for the virus on Friday, the newspaper said.
READ: Vice President Pence’s Press Secretary Tests for Coronavirus
Both the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Alex Azar, and the US Surgeon General. The US, Jerome Adams, has tested negative for the virus, according to government spokesmen. They are not planning to quarantine at this time.
HHS spokeswoman Caitlan Oakley said Azar “will follow the advice of his doctors in the White House Medical Unit.”
And, a spokesperson for the Surgeon General said: “Surgeon General Adams was last examined for covid-19 on Friday, May 8 and the results were negative. He was not in contact with anyone who tested positive and at this time has had no known exposure to the virus.
“Dr. Adams already participates virtually in most meetings and events, and will continue to do so. If the White House Medical Unit recommends any changes in Dr. Adams’ practices, he will, of course, comply.
An HHS spokesman told CNN Sunday night that Assistant Secretary of Health Brett Giroir also does not plan to do a self-quarantine.
Giroir is the federal official who has coordinated the testing efforts and attended some of the White House coronavirus task force meetings. He has not been at the White House since May 5, the spokesman said.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a member of the White House coronavirus task force, told CNN on Saturday that he will begin a “modified quarantine” after making “low risk” contact with the White House staff member who tested positive for the virus.
He is not doing a full quarantine like Dr. Stephen Hahn, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), who came into contact with a person who tested positive for coronavirus, confirmed an official with the FDA to CNN on Friday.
Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), will also be quarantined for two weeks after being exposed to a person in the White House who gave positive for covid-19, a CDC spokesperson confirmed to CNN.
The White House did not say Sunday whether Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, or any key officials in Pence’s office were in quarantine.
Trump’s mood
In talks this weekend, Trump expressed concern that aides who contracted the coronavirus would weaken his message that the outbreak is on the decline and states should begin reopening, according to a person who spoke to him.
Trump expressed frustration that two White House employees tested positive for coronavirus and asked why his aides were not ordered to wear face masks earlier this week, according to the person.
Trump believes that an economic rebound will occur only when governors decide to lift the restrictions and is concerned by any sign that the virus is re-emerging.
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At the same time, the president has told people he doesn’t want to be around anyone who hasn’t been examined and has bristled at contact with some people at the White House, according to the person who spoke to him.
CNN’s Kevin Bohn contributed to this report.
