ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl tests positive for Covid-19 after White House Correspondents Dinner
By Paul LeBlanc and Oliver Darcy, CNN
ABC News’ Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl tested positive for Covid-19 Monday night, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.
“He tested negative on Saturday afternoon before the White House Correspondents Dinner by medically supervised staff. He had no symptoms on Saturday,” the source said, adding that Karl “is currently isolating and participating in contact tracing.”
Karl’s positive test, first reported by Politico, comes days after he attended the White House Correspondents Dinner, where he sat next to Kim Kardashian and briefly shook hands with President Joe Biden.
Attendees at the dinner were required to show proof of vaccination and a same-day negative Covid antigen test.
Karl is fully vaccinated, boosted and tested regularly, according to the source familiar.
Steven Portnoy, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, said in a statement Tuesday, “We worked hard to publicize our protocols and encouraged those eligible to get booster shots in the weeks leading up to the dinner.”
“Our event implemented protocols that went beyond any guidance or regulation issued by the (US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) or the DC health department. We wish anyone who may not be feeling well a speedy recovery,” he added.
A person familiar with the event told CNN that anyone who was in proximity to the President on stage “had to take a medically certified proctored test that the White House uses because it believes it to be a measure of infectiousness.”
The annual black tie dinner, hosted by comedian Trevor Noah this year, returned after a two-year hiatus, and Biden’s attendance marked the first time a sitting president has been at the event with members of the press since 2016.
Despite concerns that the dinner could prove to be a super spreader event, White House press secretary Jen Psaki suggested before the dinner that Biden felt it was important to showcase his support for the free press.
“Just like anything, it’s a risk assessment and a decision he made on a personal basis,” she said last week.
In recent weeks, the President has mostly been unmasked at crowded White House events, but those events had lower attendance than the dinner on Saturday.
This story has been updated with additional information Tuesday.
The-CNN-Wire
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