Top US coronavirus officials in quarantine

Three members of the White House coronavirus response team, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, went into quarantine after they came into contact with a White House staffer who tested positive for the infectious disease.

Fauci, a leading member of the task force and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has risen to prominence for his straightforward explanations of the respiratory illness. 

Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Dr. Robert Redfield and Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration Stephen Hahn will also be placing themselves in quarantine after exposure to the coronavirus. 

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Agency leaders stuck at home

Speaking with CNN on Saturday, Fauci said he would start a "modified quarantine." The broadcaster reported that Fauci was considered at "low risk" for catching the virus as he did not have close contact with the infected staffer. He will work at home for 14 days and will be allowed to go to the office only if he is the only one there, the report said.    

Fauci's institute said he had tested negative for the virus on Friday and that he would be tested regularly.

The CDC said in a statement late Saturday that Dr. Redfield would be "teleworking for the next two weeks" after having "low-risk exposure" to an infection at the White House. The FDA had released a similar statement concerning Hahn just hours before. He had recently tested negative for the virus, the statement said. 

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Exception for Senate testimony

All three officials are slotted to testify before a Senate committee on Tuesday. The White House is making a one-time exception to testimony policy and allowing Redfield and Hahn to testify by videoconference. The Senate statement was released before Fauci's situation had been made public. 

On Friday, Vice President Mike Pence's press secretary Katie Miller tested positive for COVID-19, becoming the second person working at the White House to test positive this week. 

Miller is the wife of Stephen Miller, a top Trump adviser. The White House did not comment on whether he had been tested or if he was still working in the White House. 

On Thursday, the White House had confirmed that a member of the military working as a valet to US President Donald Trump had tested positive. 

The CDC and FDA did not reveal with whom the agency officials had come in contact. 

Trump said he was "not worried" about the virus spreading in the White House. Still, officials said health safety measures had been increased. 

kp/mm (dpa, Reuters)

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