President Biden’s daughter, Ashley, tested positive for COVID-19 and won’t join her mother on a trip to Latin America, first lady Jill Biden’s office said Wednesday, shortly before she departed for Ecuador on a three-nation tour.
The 40-year-old first daughter backed out of a trip to Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine earlier this month, citing exposure to the virus about a week after she attended several parties for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Michael LaRosa, a spokesman for Jill Biden — who also is visiting Panama and Costa Rica — said Ashley Biden doesn’t meet the CDC definition of a “close contact” for either of her parents.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday afternoon that Joe and Jill Biden last saw their daughter in person “several days” ago.
“About a week is what I’ve been told,” Jean-Pierre added.
President Biden turns 80 this year and is at elevated risk from COVID-19 due to his advanced age. Biden has had four shots of Pfizer’s vaccine, reducing the chance of serious illness or death.
Ashley Biden has struggled with drug addiction, and intimate reflections from her diary were published in 2020 that referred to “” childhood showers with her father. The diary gained little attention until last year, when an FBI investigation and additional reporting confirmed
The president has not yet caught the virus that’s killed 1 million Americans, despite a lengthy list of close calls.
Susan Rice, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, tested positive last week after meeting with Biden. A week earlier, Secretary of State Antony Blinken tested positive following the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, where the president shook hands with ABC reporter Jonathan Karl — who tested positive two days later.
Last month, a large number of prominent DC Democrats, including Vice President Kamala Harris, tested positive for the virus. In early April, more than 10%ꦚ of attendees at the Gridiron Dinner in DC tested positive, including many White Ho🀅use aides.
Attorney General Merrick Garland, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Harris’ communications director Jamal Simmons and LaRosa himself were among ♛the Gridiron party-goers who caught COVID-19.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) tested positive April 7 after attending two White House events with Biden. Biden kissed Pelosi on the cheek at one event and she stood behind his shoulder one day later at a bill-signing ceremony. Biden’s sister, Valerie Biden Owens, also tested positive that week.
President Donald Trump caught COVID-19 in 2020 and was hospitalized for three nights at the Walter Reed National Mi🀅litary Medical Center in Maryland.