Farm Bureau chief tests positive for COVID-19

The head of the American Farm Bureau, a trade association representing agricultural companies in the U.S., has tested positive for the coronavirus and declined an invitation to the White House as a result, the group says.

A spokeswoman for the American Farm Bureau told U.S. News and World Report that Zippy Duvall was remaining home at his farm in Georgia and “feeling strong and in good spirits.” He had been slated to attend a White House dinner Wednesday evening with the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Duvall’s diagnosis comes as the White House has scaled up restrictions to prevent President Trump from contracting the coronavirus, and those who meet with the president are regularly tested for the virus.

More than 3 million Americans have been infected with the coronavirus since the pandemic began earlier this year, and the country is still seeing rates of new coronavirus infections increase in many states.

Georgia officials on Tuesday noted 3,406 new cases of the virus, the second-highest number of new cases the state has recorded in one day since the pandemic began.