Senior Joe Biden Adviser Cedric Richmond Contracts Coronavirus

A top adviser to President-elect Joe Biden has contracted the coronavirus – the second case in Biden World this week.

U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA) was allegedly “not in close contact with Biden” before his positive diagnosis, the Daily Beast reported.

“Richmond’s interactions with the President-elect happened in open air, were masked and totaled less than 15 consecutive minutes, the CDC’s timeframe for close contact. Richmond traveled to Georgia on his own and not with the President-elect,” Biden spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield said in a statement.

Richmond was not in close contact with Biden “as defined by the CDC,” she added.

“President-elect Biden underwent PCR testing for COVID-19 today and COVID-19 was not detected,” Bedingfield said.

Richmond developed symptoms on Wednesday and will quarantine for two weeks.

He is the second person within the Biden bubble to contract the virus this week.

An unnamed reporter on the same trip to Georgia to campaign for Democrat Senate candidates Job Ossoff and Raphael Warnock also tested positive.

According to Biden’s transition:

Today, a member of the press pool who traveled with the President-elect yesterday received a positive PCR test for Covid-19. We initiated contact tracing protocols immediately, and this person was not ever in close contact as defined by the CDC with the President-elect. …

Out of an abundance of caution, one member of our traveling communications team who was in close contact with this individual will self-quarantine for 7 days and other members of the traveling press pool who were in close contact with this individual are not on pool duty today and will not be until they clear the window for being infectious. No other member of the President-elect’s staff has been assessed to be at risk for exposure or transmission of the virus.

The Biden transition claimed he had “adhered to masking and social distancing guidelines at all times during the trip,” but Washington Post reporter Annie Linskey posted a photo that seemed to dispute that claim:

This photo of @JoeBiden taking his mask down briefly in Georgia has to be part of why Fauci wants @JoeBiden to get a vaccine ASAP. pic.twitter.com/aTdAVahY78

— Annie Linskey (@AnnieLinskey) December 15, 2020

Biden coughed throughout appearances on Monday and Tuesday, which he attributed to “a little bit of a cold,” Breitbart News reported.

Kyle Olson is a reporter for Breitbart News. He is also host of “The Kyle Olson Show,” syndicated on Michigan radio stations on Saturdays–download full podcast episodes. Follow him on Parler.