Second White House staffer tests positive for coronavirus
A second case of coronavirus within the inner sanctum of the White House has emerged after Katie Miller, the press secretary for vice-president Mike Pence, tested positive for the illness.
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The result emerged a day after White House officials confirmed that a member of the military serving as a valet to President Donald Trump had tested positive for Covid-19.
Miller, who is married to Trump's senior adviser, Stephen Miller, tested positive on Friday. A day earlier she had tested negative.
White House officials said Katie Miller had been in recent contact with Pence but not with the president who said he was not worried about the virus spreading in the White House.
"All you can do is take precautions and do the best you can," he told reporters.
“This is why the whole concept of tests aren’t necessarily great,” Trump said. “The tests are perfect but something can happen between a test where it’s good and then something happens.”
More than 76,000 people have died from the coronavirus in the United States. A White House spokesperson said safety procedures would be enhanced at the complex.
A senior administration official told reporters that staff in the West Wing are tested regularly but much of Pence’s staff - which works in the adjacent Executive Office Building - are tested less frequently.
(with newswires)
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