Pence Will Begin ‘Maintaining Distance’ From Trump After COVID-19 Scare At White House

Vice President Mike Pence will begin to take additional precautions after his press secretary Katie Miller tested positive for COVID-19, but will not self-quarantine. 

Precautions include “maintaining distance for the immediate future” from President Donald Trump. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Pence made the decision himself after talking to the White House medical unit. 

“The vice president has made the choice to keep his distance for a few days and I would just note that that’s his personal decision to make that, as to how many days he does it,” she said. 

Trump said he had not seen Pence since Miller tested positive for the coronavirus and that he could confer with him via telephone. 

In a call with governors on Monday, Pence said he was taking extra precautions and added that he was “in a separate room on my own” while Dr. Deborah Birx, a key member of the White House’s coronavirus task force, was “in a situation room with some staff.”

Despite the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines that advise those who have had “close contact” with someone who has tested positive for the virus to stay at home for 14 days, Pence has not been taking government-suggested precautions as to not undercut Trump’s reopening message. 

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