Agriculture Secretary Vilsack tests positive for COVID-19

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Saturday that he had tested positive for COVID-19, along with dozens of others who attended the annual Gridiron Club dinner last week.

“I tested positive for COVID,” Vilsack tweeted. “I’m both vaccinated and boosted and thankfully my symptoms are mild. If you have yet to get vaccinated and boosted, please don’t wait.”

As of Friday, 53 people had reported to the Gridiron Club that they tested positive for COVID-19 after the organization’s annual dinner last week, according to Gridiron President Tom DeFrank.

Others in attendance at the dinner included Anthony Fauci, White House press secretary Jen Psaki, special presidential envoy John Kerry, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky, and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

Among those who have tested positive for the virus are Attorney General Merrick Garland, Vice President Harris’s communications director, Jamal Simmons, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, and Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Joaquin Castro (D-Texas).

A number of lawmakers not in attendance at the dinner have also recently tested positive.

Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) received positive results on Thursday after being on the Senate floor earlier in the day to vote on the confirmation of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has also tested positive for the virus.

Psaki dismissed concerns that President Biden was at risk of catching COVID-19 following his interactions with the Speaker in a press conference on Thursday.

“All of their interactions were publicly available — I think you saw them — and that’s how that assessment is made,” she said, noting that Biden did not qualify as a close contact of Pelosi under CDC guidelines.