Vice president Kamala Harris’s office announced that she tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday.
Press secretary Kirsten Allen said in a statement that the vice president has exhibited no symptoms and will work from her residence.
“She has not been a close contact to the president or first lady due to their respective recent travel schedules,” Ms Allen said. “She will follow CDC guidelines and the advice of her physicians.”
Ms Harris has been traveling and has most recently been in the California Bay area. She was at the University of California San Francisco to deliver an address on Black maternal health. She also spoke at the Vandenberg Space Force Base, also in California.
Ms Harris’s positive test means that Democrats will not be able to break ties, since they have only 50 votes in the Senate. Connecticut senator Chris Murphy and Oregon’s Ron Wyden also tested positive.
“We’ve done the contact tracing and let people know,” Mr Murphy tweeted. “It’s a bummer, but I’m sure if I wasn’t fully vaccinated I would be feeling a lot worse. So remember to get your booster!”
Mr Wyden, who is chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee and has been working closely with Senator Joe Manchin to secure a social spending bill, also made an announcement on Tuesday, shortly before Ms Harris’s own.
“I encourage everyone to get vaccinated and boosted to protect themselves and their families,” he tweeted in a statement. “I’ll be continuing my work for Oregonians from my residence in DC until I test negative.”
The news also comes, incidentally, as Republicans and Democrats attempt to finalise a deal to pass a Covid-19 relief bill. The Senate failed to reach an agreement before it headed to recess earlier this month after Republicans objected to president Joe Biden rolling back Title 42, a Trump-era order that restricted immigration during the pandemic.
