Eleven Secret Service agents test positive for COVID-19: report

Newly unveiled documents suggest nearly a dozen U.S. Secret Service members have tested positive for COVID-19, Yahoo News reports.

According to documents from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that were obtained by Yahoo News, there were 11 active cases at the agency as of Thursday. On top of those currently infected, another 23 Secret Service members have reportedly recovered from coronavirus. Another 60 employees are allegedly self-quarantining. 

It’s not clear if any have recently been working at the White House or have had any contact with President Trump or Vice President Pence.

“To protect the privacy of our employee’s health information and for operational security, the Secret Service is not releasing how many of its employees have tested positive for COVID-19, nor how many of its employees were, or currently are, quarantined,” Justine Whelan, a Secret Service spokeswoman, told Yahoo News when asked about the documents.

The Secret Service did not immediately return The Hill’s request for comment. 

News of coronavirus spreading among Secret Service members comes amid reports this week that multiple White House officials have tested positive for COVID-19. 

On Friday, it was revealed that Katie Miller, the vice president’s press secretary and the wife of senior White House adviser Stephen Miller, had contracted the virus. And on Thursday, one of the president’s personal valets tested positive after exhibiting symptoms of coronavirus earlier in the week.

Trump and Pence are both regularly tested for the virus, and neither has tested positive thus far. Trump said this week he will begin having daily, rather than weekly, tests following the cases within the White House. He has asserted he is not worried about the virus, and continues to attend meetings and events without wearing a face mask, despite Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines advising face coverings. 

“I’m not worried. But you know, look, I get things done. I don’t worry about things. I do what I have to do,” he said. “We’ve taken very strong precautions at the White House. But again, we’re dealing with an invisible situation. Nobody knows.”