After voting for the next election at a polling station in Indiana, Indiana on October 23, 2020, US Vice President Mike Pence stands with his wife, Karen.
Brian Woolston | Reuters
Vice President Mike Pence will not isolate himself despite many of his aides testing positive for coronavirus, his office said.
Pence’s chief of staff Mark Short is stepping down after a positive test on Saturday, vice president’s spokesman Devin O’Malley said in a statement. According to NBC News, the vice president’s senior political adviser, Marty Bust, and two other aides also tested positive.
O’Malley said in a statement issued late Saturday night that both Pence and another woman, Karen Pence, had tested negative and “remained in good health.”
Pence is expected to hold a rally in Kingston, North Carolina on Sunday. The battlefield status is proud and with the state vote the average Democratic nominee B Biden leads by more than one percent.
“When Vice President Pence is considered in close contact with Mr. Short, the vice president will maintain his schedule in accordance with the CDC guidelines for essential staff, in consultation with the White House medical unit,” O’Malley said in a statement.
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows declined to say how many people connected to the vice president’s office have tested positive when pressed by CNN’s Jack Tapper on Sunday morning.
“As long as it’s the vice president or the president, or anyone close to him where there are people who cause harm, they won’t disclose personal information,” Meadows said.
The cluster of cases with the vice president comes at a politically dangerous time.
Elections will be held in nine days between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Biden. Trump was hospitalized in Covid-19 earlier this month, but has since recovered.
On Monday, Pence is expected to be on the Senate floor for Supreme Court Judge Amy Connie Barrett’s confirmation. At a rally in Tallahassee on Saturday evening, Pence said he would “not miss that vote for the world.”
Barrett’s confirmation by two Republican senators after being infected with the virus, which now seems to be in jeopardy.
Two of those legislators – San Mike Lee of Utah and San Thomas Tillis of North Carolina – attended Barrett’s White House nomination ceremony last month, which has since been linked to at least eight cases.
Pence, 61, has a higher risk of serious illness than Covid-19 due to his age. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the highest risk is for people aged 85 and over.
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