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 has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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