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Press Secretary for VP Pence diagnosed with coronavirus
Jana Katsuyama reports.
A second White house staff member has tested positive for the new SARS-CoV2 coronavirus. The Vice-President's press secretary Katie Miller, 25, was confirmed to have the virus Friday. President Trump identified her during a news conference and said he and Vice-President Mike Pence tested negative for the coronavirus Friday.
"She's a wonderful young woman, Katie. She tested very good for a long period of time and then today all of a sudden she tested positive," said President Trump.
The news comes just one day after the President's valet tested positive. The White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows says they are taking more precautions, but did not give any specific details.
"We put in some additional protocols over the last 48 hours and we'll continue to monitor it," said Meadows.
The two coronavirus cases at the White House in two days come after weeks of not following all of the recommendations the Centers for Disease Control has laid out for all Americans.
Miller is the wife of Stephen Miller, the President's speechwriters and part of President Trump's close circle of advisors.
In a tweet, Katie Miller said " Thank you all for your prayers and well wishes. I’m doing well and look forward to getting back to work for the American people."
Katie Miller had tested negative Thursday, a day before her positive result.
Julia Schaletzky, Executive Director of the U.C. Berkeley Center for Emerging and Neglected Diseases, says the virus can be growing in the body, but not yield a positive coronavirus test result until the viral load increases to a detectable level.
Schaletzky says other in the White House also might be infected but not show symptoms for up to two weeks.
"You catch it but you don't get sick immediately. It takes a couple days for symptoms to develop, that can be 2 weeks with the coronavirus and on average is about 4-5 days after exposure," said Schaletzky.
The infections come after weeks of assurances that the White House was safe and doing daily coronavirus tests on staff.
The President and Vice-President have cited that as reasons for disregarding the CDC's recommendation that people wear masks to stop transmission of the virus.
On Friday, President Trump appeared at a 75th anniversary ceremony for VE Day. President Trump kept a distance from the elderly veterans, who were in their 90's, but he and others were not wearing masks. The veterans also were placed shoulder to shoulder without the CDC's recommended 6 feet of social distancing.
"You want to limit exposure, particularly to high risk patient populations like as the elderly, which makes this recent veteran meeting a little concerning," said Schaletzky.
Also Friday, Ivanka Trump's personal assistant reportedly has tested positive for the coronavirus, though she had not seen the President's daughter for several weeks.
Eleven Secret Service employees also tested positive according to an internal document obtained by Yahoo News.