Vice President Mike Pence is in Des Moines to meet with religious, agriculture and grocery leaders, this after one of his staffers tested positive for COVID-19.
Pence was supposed to land in Iowa around 11:00 Friday morning, but his plane was delayed as reports that one of his aides had tested positive for the virus. As Air Force 2 was ready to depart, the plane sat on the tarmac while people were seen de-boarding. The COVID-19 positive staffer was not on the plane, but others who have reportedly had close contact with the person were on board.
The aide's positive test is the second person in the White House ranks to contract COVID-19 after it was reported on Thursday that President Trump's valet had the disease.
In a White House release, officials said, “This morning we had someone on the Vice President’s staff test positive. And so out of abundance of caution we went back and looked into all the person’s contacts most recently. And so out of an abundance of caution, that’s why we asked some of our staff to deplane. Nobody else was exhibiting any symptoms or having any feeling of sickness, but we asked them to go get tested and go home out of abundance of caution."
Pence is in Des Moines meet with Iowa’s religious, agriculture and grocery leaders as part of the White House's coronavirus task force.