Biden advisor Rep. Cedric Richmond tests positive for COVID-19
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- Rep. Cedric Richmond, an advisor to President-elect Joe Biden, has tested positive for COVID-19.
- Richmond, who recently traveled to Georgia for a campaign event, was not in "close contact" with Biden, according to a spokesperson for the transition team.
- Richmond is set to be the incoming White House's director of the Office of Public Engagement.
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A senior advisor to President-elect Joe Biden has tested positive for COVID-19 after attending a campaign event this week in Georgia with Senate candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.
Rep. Cedric Richmond, a Democratic member of Congress from Louisiana who is set to be Biden's director of the Office of Public Engagement, began showing symptoms on Wednesday and took a rapid test, which indicated infection with the novel coronavirus.
A subsequent PCR test on Thursday confirmed the result, according to Kate Bedingfield, a spokesperson for the Biden-Harris transition team.
"Richmond was not in close contact, as defined by the CDC, with the president-elect," Bedingfield said. Nor were Ossoff, Warnock, or their campaign teams, she said.
"Richmond's interactions with the president-elect happened in open air, were masked, and totaled less than 15 consecutive minutes," according to Bedingfield, who noted that he traveled to Georgia for Tuesday's campaign event on his own.
The CDC defines close contact, however, as "being within 6 feet of an infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period."
President-elect Biden underwent a PCR test for COVID-19 on Thursday. No virus was detected.
Biden is set to receive a COVID-19 vaccine next week.
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