By Kaitlan Collins, Jeremy Diamond, Jim Acosta, Daniella Diaz, Kevin Liptak and Betsy Klein
At least five people in Vice President Mike Pence’s orbit have tested positive for coronavirus in recent days, including chief of staff Marc Short, close aide Zach Bauer and outside adviser Marty Obst, sources told CNN.
There are concerns that more people within Pence’s inner circle will test positive in the coming days, a source said. “They’re scared,” the source said of staffers in the vice president’s office.
Vice President Mike Pence and second lady Karen Pence each tested negative for coronavirus on Sunday, a White House official said. Despite contact with multiple people who recently tested positive, Mike Pence is refusing to quarantine in defiance of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.
Pence’s office announced Saturday evening that Short had been diagnosed with Covid-19. Sources told CNN that Obst, who is a senior political adviser to Pence but is not a government employee, and at least three staffers in Pence’s office have also tested positive for the virus.
Bauer, one of the staffers who tested positive, according to two sources familiar with the matter, is Pence’s “body man,” meaning his job is to accompany Pence throughout the day and night helping him with a wide range of duties, putting him in close proximity to the vice president. A source familiar with the matter told CNN that Bauer has not been in the office since Tuesday, when he went home to quarantine after coming into contact with Obst. Bauer tested positive Saturday.
Besides announcing the positive test for Short, the vice president’s office would not comment on the identities of the Pence aides who tested positive for the virus in recent days or confirm the number of aides. The New York Times was the first to report on the Pence aides.
During an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows refused to disclose the extent of the Covid-19 outbreak in Pence’s orbit, and he said Pence will be wearing a mask and social distancing when he resumes campaign travel Sunday despite his direct exposure to the virus.
“Sharing personal information is not something that we should do,” Meadows told CNN’s Jake Tapper. Meadows said such disclosures are only appropriate in the case of President Donald Trump, the vice president or those in their inner circle.
“Anytime there’s someone in harm’s way, we have an obligation to let people know for contract-tracing,” Meadows said.
Pence — who is the head of the White House’s coronavirus task force — plans to continue traveling and campaigning every day in the final stretch to Election Day, an official told CNN.
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