Cedric Richmond, Close Biden Adviser, Tests Positive For The Coronavirus

By Alana Wise / NPR

Published December 17, 2020 at 12:07 PM PST

This story was published more than 3 years ago.

Rep. Cedric Richmond, left, speaks with Joe Biden at Columbus Airport in Columbus, Ga., in October. Biden's transition team says he has not had close contact with Richmond, who has tested positive for the coronavirus.

Cedric Richmond, a congressman who is a close adviser to President-elect Joe Biden, has tested positive for the coronavirus, the transition team said on Thursday.

Richmond, who Biden picked as his director of the Office of Public Engagement, was not in close contact with Biden, his spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield said in a statement. He will quarantine for 14 days and be tested twice before returning to in-person work, she said.

Richmond had been at a rally for the Senate runoffs in Georgia on Tuesday, but was not in close contact with the candidates, Bedingfield said. "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," she said.

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Biden was tested for COVID-19 with a PCR test on Thursday and COVID-19 was not detected, Bedingfield said.