Fauci says he'll begin a 'modified quarantine' after having 'low risk' contact with a White House staffer who tested positive for COVID-19

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Fauci says he'll begin a 'modified quarantine' after having 'low risk' contact with a White House staffer who tested positive for COVID-19
Dr. Anthony Fauci , director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases speaks during a meeting with US President Donald Trump and Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards D-LA in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC on April 29, 2020.Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
  • White House coronavirus task force member Anthony Fauci told CNN he'll begin a "modified quarantine."
  • Fauci said he came into "low risk" contact with a White House staffer who tested positive for COVID-19.
  • He said he will work from home and wear a face mask for 14 days, but may also go work in his office at the National Institutes of Health, where there are no other people.
  • A number of people at the White House, or in close contact with White House staff, have recently tested positive for the virus, including one of President Donald Trump's valets, Vice President Mike Pence's press secretary, and Ivanka Trump's personal assistant.
  • Trump and Pence have both been tested recently and the results were negative.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
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Anthony Fauci, the nation's top epidemiologist and member of the White House's coronavirus task force, said he'll start a "modified quarantine" after coming into contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19, CNN reported Saturday evening.

Fauci said the contact with the coronavirus patient, who is a White House staffer, was "low risk," meaning he did not have overly close contact with the person while they were contagious.

Fauci told CNN his "modified quarantine" will consist of working from home and wearing a mask for 14 days, though he said he would also consider working at his office at the National Institutes of Health, since he would be the only one there.

He also told the network he tested negative for COVID-19 on Friday, and will be tested every day going forward.

The director of the Centers for Disease Control, Robert Redfield, has also begun self-quarantining after a similar "low-risk" exposure.

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Earlier this week, one of President Donald Trump's Oval Office valets tested positive for the virus. On Friday, news surfaced that Katie Miller, Vice President Mike Pence's press secretary and the wife of White House adviser Stephen Miller, tested positive.

And on Friday evening, CNN reported that Ivanka Trump's personal assistant had also tested positive.

It's unclear who the coronavirus patient Fauci had "low risk" contact with was, but Katie Miller frequently attended White House coronavirus task force meetings, according to CNN.

The White House told CNN that Trump and Pence were tested again as a precaution, and that both tested negative.

They are tested weekly with Abbott rapid result test devices. Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, also tested negative as of Friday.

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Trump and Pence have both drawn sharp backlash for not following the White House's own directive to wear masks when going out in public.

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