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White House Military Aide Tests Positive For Coronavirus

The positive test of someone working close to President Trump at the White House immediately raised concerns about the president's possible exposure to the coronavirus.
Chris Kleponis
/
AFP via Getty Images
The positive test of someone working close to President Trump at the White House immediately raised concerns about the president's possible exposure to the coronavirus.

Updated at 5:15 p.m. ET

A U.S. military aide who works at the White House has tested positive for the coronavirus, causing concern that the president may have been exposed.

"We were recently notified by the White House medical unit that a member of the United States military, who works on the White House campus, has tested positive for coronavirus," said White House spokesperson Hogan Gidley in a statement.

Since learning of the positive case, Gidley says, both President Trump and Vice President Pence were tested again for the virus. The results were negative.

Later on Thursday, Trump said the administration was increasing the frequency of testing at the White House from weekly to daily.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Barbara Sprunt is a producer on NPR's Washington desk, where she reports and produces breaking news and feature political content. She formerly produced the NPR Politics Podcast and got her start in radio at as an intern on NPR's Weekend All Things Considered and Tell Me More with Michel Martin. She is an alumnus of the Paul Miller Reporting Fellowship at the National Press Foundation. She is a graduate of American University in Washington, D.C., and a Pennsylvania native.