Pence’s Chief of Staff Marc Short tests positive for coronavirus

Oct. 25 (UPI) — Vice President Mike Pence plans to continue campaigning for President Donald Trump though Marc Short, his chief of staff, tested positive for coronavirus, the White House said Saturday night.

Also, Marty Obst, one of Pence’s top political advisers, had tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, Bloombergand CNN reported.

In a statement Saturday, Pence’s press secretary Devin O’Malley said Short “began quarantine and assisting in the contact tracing process” after he tested positive for the disease Saturday. “Vice President Pence and Mrs. Pence both tested negative for COVID-19 today, and remain in good health.”

The vice president’s office made the announcement after Pence had landed in Andrews Air Force Base after campaigning in Lakeland and Tallahassee in Florida.

“While Vice President Pence is considered a close contact with Mr. Short, in consultation with the White House Medical Unit, the Vice President will maintain his schedule in accordance with the CDC guidelines for essential personnel,” the statement read.

On Sunday, Pence planed to campaign in North Carolina.

Pence wasn’t wearing a mask when he departed from Air Force Two in Florida. But he had worn a mask when he boarded Marine Two and boarded the plane in Washington.

Short has been seen on the campaign trail, including earlier in the week traveling aboard Air Force Two.

President Donald Trump returned to Washington shortly after midnight from campaign appearances in Wisconsin, Ohio, North Carolina. The president began his day at his resort in Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, and voted at a polling site. In Washington, Trump, who contracted the disease recently, said he heard about Short’s infection.

“He’s going to be fine but he’s quarantining,” Trump told reporters as he exited Air Force One.

During the rally in Waukesha, Wis., Trump said: “The bottom line is we have to be vigilant, we have to be careful, we have to be everything, but we also have to get our lives back. We have to take our country back. It’s going away, it’s rounding the turn.”

As a key aide, Short, 50, has been a key aide involved with the US coronavirus response. In May, another Pence aide, communications director Katie Miller, previously tested positive for coronavirus.

Short become Pence’s chief of state on March 1, 2019. Previously he was Trump’s director of Legislative Affairs when he became president until July 30, 2018.