Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be regularly tested for the coronavirus as the campaign has increased some of its health protocols in the final stretch before Election Day, a campaign official confirmed to CNN.
The campaign intends to make public if either Biden or Harris tests positive for the virus, per a campaign official, and staff who interact with them will be tested regularly as well.
“This announcement is another step demonstrating Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ commitment to turn the page on Trump’s catastrophic mismanagement during the worst public health crisis in 100 years,” campaign spokesman Andrew Bates said in a statement.
The announcement, first reported by Bloomberg, comes after Biden’s deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield said Sunday that the Democratic presidential nominee hasn’t yet been tested for Covid-19 but that he hasn’t had the virus.
Bedingfield said there were “strict protocols” in place should Biden need to be tested.
“He has not had the virus,” Bedingfield told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on “This Week” when asked if he has been tested or contracted the virus. “We have put in place really strict protocols, as I think all of your journalists who attended our convention in Delaware this week saw. We’ve put in place incredibly strict protocols to ensure that everybody involved, who is around Vice President Biden, who is around Sen. Harris, is undergoing the appropriate testing. The vice president has not had the virus.”
Asked if Biden has been tested, she said, “He has not, he has not been tested” and added, “However, we have put the strictest protocols in place and moving forward should he need to be tested, he certainly would be. But he has not been tested yet.”
Last month, Biden told reporters he had not been tested for the virus and he told CNN’s Jake Tapper in May that he had not been tested because he was not experiencing symptoms. He told Tapper he was following medical advice such as requiring people who enter his home to wear masks and gloves and that he was practicing social distancing.
Biden, 77, is among those considered high risk for the virus, according to guidelines by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The coronavirus can be spread by infected people who are asymptomatic and those who haven’t developed symptoms yet.
