White House reporter suspected of having coronavirus tests negative

A member of the White House Correspondents’ Association who was suspected of having the novel coronavirus has tested negative, WHCA President Jonathan Karl announced Tuesday.

“I have just been advised that our colleague who we learned last week had a suspected case of COVID-19 has finally received test results. They were negative,” Karl, who serves as White House correspondent for ABC News, said in a statement Tuesday.

The unnamed journalist was first reported to be suspected to have contracted the virus last Monday, when Karl noted that the person had been at the White House March 9, 11, 16 and 18 and encouraged anyone who was there during that period to consult their doctors. President Trump and Vice President Pence held task force briefings on three of the days in question.

The WHCA also released a revised seating chart last week to better comply with social distancing recommendations, saying in a statement, “As we have said since this crisis began, our priority is ensuring that we can maintain a healthy pool to provide coverage of the president. To that end, the WHCA took the emergency step last month to issue a new, temporary seating chart.”

“We understand these restrictions are deeply disruptive to our members and their ability to do their jobs,” the WHCA added. “But we are forced to take these steps to do our part to ensure that there is a healthy pool available to cover the president and inform the public during this critical time.”