A White House official who traveled with President Biden to Glasgow, Scotland, for the United Nations Climate Change Conference has tested positive for Covid-19, according to multiple reports.
“This individual did not have close contact with the President and is not exhibiting any symptoms,” a separate White House official told CNN. “The person has remained in Scotland to complete the quarantine period with the support of the administration.”
Multiple other quick tests taken by the quarantined official were inconclusive, according to the New York Times, and the aide is now awaiting results of a more accurate PCR test. President Biden tested negative on Tuesday.
The president, who is 78, was vaccinated earlier this year and got a very public booster shot in late September.
The most recent positive result is one of a spate of recent infections connected to the administration. White House press secretary Jen Psaki had to drop out of the president’s overseas junket after she herself tested positive for the virus on Sunday.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced that he had tested positive on October 19, forcing him to cancel a trip to Columbia.
Just yesterday Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who Biden has nominated to serve as U.S. ambassador to India and who is also in Scotland at the Climate Change Conference, announced that he tested positive.
The mayor’s office said Thursday afternoon that he was experiencing mild symptoms while quarantining in his hotel room. The Los Angeles Times reported, based on an email that the mayor sent his staff, that Garcetti has a fever and head cold symptoms. The Times also reported that his tentative return date to Los Angeles is Nov. 13. The Los Angeles mayor has yet to have a confirmation hearing for the potential ambassadorship.
Scotland is seeing a surge of Covid infections of late, with the country recording 3,234 new cases on November 1, up from 2,137 just two weeks before. The country’s 7-day test positivity rate was 8.8%.
City News Service contributed to this report.