Kamala Harris Suspends Campaign Travel Schedule, 2 Associates Contract COVID

The Biden campaign announced Thursday Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris was suspending all travel through Sunday because two people associated with the campaign tested positive for coronavirus.

A statement from the campaign said neither of the individuals had had contact with Harris or Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in the 48 hours prior to their positive tests on Wednesday. Harris had last been in contact with them Oct. 8 and has taken two PCR tests since then, testing negative.

The statement identified the two individuals as "a non-staff flight crew member and Liz Allen," Harris' communications director.

"Senator Harris was not in close contact, as defined by the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], with either of these individuals during the two days prior to their positive tests; as such, there is no requirement for quarantine," the statement said.

Harris will campaign virtually instead. She is expected to return to the campaign trail on Monday. Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff, canceled a scheduled Thursday appearance but was expected to resume his campaign schedule Friday.

"The campaign has begun the contact tracing process to notify everyone who came into contact with the individuals during the potential infection window. The laboratory [that] conducts tests on our behalf has reported these results, as they do all of our test results, to local officials as required by law," the campaign said.

The two individuals had been attending to personal matters and tested positive on their return to the campaign.

The Biden campaign later said an administrative member of the aviation company who came into contact with the positive individual traveled on Biden’s campaign plane Monday but was never closer than 50 feet to the candidate, well beyond the distance recommended by the CDC. Additionally, everyone on the plane was wearing a face mask.

The campaign said Biden would not be interrupting his schedule.

The Biden campaign action stands in stark contrast to President Donald Trump, who has treated his recent bout with coronavirus as a minor annoyance and resumed his campaign schedule less than two weeks after announcing his diagnosis Oct. 2. The White House also has balked at allowing the CDC a role in contact tracing for what was believed the superspreader event that led to Trump's illness, the formal announcement of Amy Coney Barrett's nomination to the Supreme Court on Sept. 26.

Trump has been pushing Americans to resume normal activities despite rising numbers of coronavirus infections across the country and the deaths of 217,000 Americans from COVID-19 since March.

(This story was updated at 4:25 p.m. EDT)