CIA Director William Burns tests positive for COVID-19
CIA Director William Burns tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, one day after meeting with President Biden.
Because the men practiced social distancing and Burns wore an N95 mask, this is not considered a close contact for Biden, the CIA said in a statement. Biden is regularly tested for the virus, and had a negative result on Wednesday.
Burns, 65, is experiencing mild symptoms. He is fully vaccinated and boosted, the CIA said, and will continue to work from home. Burns won't be able to hold in-person briefings for lawmakers or attend White House meetings until he spends five days in isolation and then has a negative test result.
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Burns does not deliver regular intelligence briefings to the White House, The New York Times notes; that duty belongs to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines.
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Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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