Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for Covid on Tuesday, her office said.

    Harris has exhibited no symptoms and will isolate while she continues to work from her residence, said her spokeswoman Kirsten Allen. She will return to the White House once she has received a negative test, Allen said.

    Harris, who has received a Covid vaccination, has not been in close contact with President Joe Biden or first lady Jill Biden since last Monday during the White House Easter Egg Roll event. 

    Multiple aides to the vice president say she tested positive for Covid shortly before she was due to join Biden for the intelligence review session of the President’s Daily Brief. 

    Harris came to the White House where she tested using both rapid antigen and PCR methods and left before the meeting and without seeing Biden, according to aides. Anyone in direct contact with Biden is tested before meeting with him.

    Harris was last with the president and first lady on Monday, April 18 for the Easter Egg Roll.  Harris traveled to California for several days and returned to Washington Monday evening. 

    She is the highest-ranking official in the Biden administration to test positive for the virus after a string of infections over the past several weeks. A new omicron subvariant has led to an uptick in cases in certain parts of the country.

    "We have a very, very contagious variant out there. It is going to be hard to ensure that no one gets Covid in America, that’s not even a policy goal," White House Covid coordinator Ashish Jha said Tuesday. "The goal of our policy should be, obviously, minimize infections whenever possible, but to make sure people don’t get seriously ill." 

    Jha said Harris was discussing with her doctor whether she should get treated with the Pfizer drug Paxlovid, which is cleared for use in people at high risk for developing severe illness. 

    Attorney General Merrick Garland, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack were among the dozens of attendees of the annual Gridiron Dinner who tested positive for Covid earlier this month. Second gentleman Doug Emhoff had Covid in March. 

    Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore, also tested positive Tuesday. With Democrats holding a razor-thin margin in the Senate and Harris holding the tie-breaking vote, any nominees Democrats had planned to vote on this week could be in jeopardy.

Biden tested negative for Covid on Monday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. White House officials have warned that Biden could get Covid at some point.

    “It is possible that the president, like any other American, could get COVID,” Jha said Tuesday. “The bottom line is he is vaccinated and boosted. He is very well protected. He’s got very good protocols around him to protect him from getting infected. But there is no 100 percent anything.”

    Harris was in California last week, leaving Washington following the Easter egg roll last Monday. She had limited public events during the California visit, which included a fundraiser, and returned to Washington Monday night.

    Harris received her second Covid booster shot April 1 and her first booster shot in October.

    Psaki said there would be no changes to White House Covid protocols following Harris's testing positive and that Biden will continue traveling and attending large indoor events.