Politics

Pelosi’s Infection Brings Covid-19 Closer Than Ever to Biden

  • Pelosi was at two events with Biden before positive test
  • Multiple officials in Washington tested positive this week
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, second left, stands next to President Joe Biden after signing the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022 at the White House on April 6.Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg
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President Joe Biden spent an hour with Nancy Pelosi in the two days before she tested positive for Covid-19, including an embrace and a kiss on the cheek -- yet the White House insisted Thursday he doesn’t qualify as a “close contact” of the House speaker.

Biden, who just received his second booster dose of the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE vaccine last week, tested negative for the virus Wednesday evening. Because he wasn’t deemed to have spent enough time around Pelosi, he won’t follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance that close contacts wear a mask for 10 days, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.

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Pelosi’s Infection Brings Covid-19 Closer Than Ever to Biden