WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump's national security adviser, who tested positive for the coronavirus, returned to work Tuesday after recovering from a mild case of COVID-19, the White House said.
Robert O'Brien has resumed his meetings with the president, said National Security Council spokesman John Ullyot.
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“He has been cleared by doctors after two negative tests for the virus, and has been asymptomatic for over a week,” Ullyot said, adding that O'Brien's return to the West Wing was consistent with advice from the White House medical unit and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “During his quarantine at home, Ambassador O’Brien worked his normal duties. ”
O'Brien is the highest-ranking U.S. official to test positive for the virus. After testing positive late last month, O'Brien isolated himself and worked from a secure location away from the White House. The administration said there was no risk of exposure to the president or Vice President Mike Pence.
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said earlier that O’Brien’s daughter also contracted the virus and that that is how officials think he was exposed. O’Brien also had recently returned from a trip to France, where he met with top European officials and was photographed standing close to others and not wearing a mask.
O’Brien was the first White House official known to have contracted the virus since May, when a personal valet to the president and the vice president’s press secretary tested positive. Numerous Secret Service agents and Trump campaign staffers have also tested positive, including national finance chair Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is the girlfriend of Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.
Senior White House staff and anyone who comes into close contact with the president and vice president are tested for the virus daily, but mask-wearing remains lax across the White House complex.