Vice President Kamala Harris with President Biden at the White House in May. Credit…Pete Marovich for The New York Times
Although Vice President Kamala Harris was infected with the coronavirus in April, it is not impossible that she could be infected again, a prospect raised by her meeting with President Biden just two days before she tested positive.
According to her schedule for that day, Ms. Harris received the president’s daily briefing in the Oval Office. He also met with Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine, with Mr. Biden and others at the White House.
The prospect of both Ms. Harris, 57, and Mr. Biden, 79, contracting the virus could be unsettling, but both are fully vaccinated and have received two booster shots, which remain highly protective against serious illness. Ms. Harris received her second boost on April 1 and Mr. Biden on March 30.
Ms. Harris, who traveled to North Carolina on Thursday, said she had spoken to Mr. Biden by phone and that he was “in good spirits.”
According to a White House official, Ms Harris tested negative on Thursday morning. On the advice of the White House medical team, she will remain masked, but her schedule will continue as planned.
It may not be clear. To account for the incubation period of the virus, many experts recommend taking a rapid test two to four days after a possible exposure and taking at least two rapid tests one day apart.
Ms Harris previously tested positive for the coronavirus on April 26. In announcing his positive test, his office said he was not experiencing symptoms and would be self-isolating at home. At that time, Mrs Harris was already fully vaccinated and had received two booster shots. He was prescribed the antiviral treatment Paxlovid.
At the time of her infection, the vice president had not been in close contact with Mr. Biden. He had spent several days in California and had not seen the president in person for eight days.
A month earlier, Doug Emhoff, Ms. Harris’ husband, tested positive for the virus. Ms. Harris was not infected at the time, but as she isolated and continued to test negative, Mr. Emhoff’s positive test forced her to cancel an appearance at an event with Mr. Biden.
It is possible that the vice president will contract the virus again. Antibodies that help protect against infection decline over time, and Omicron is more adept at dodging these antibodies than previous variants.
Even a previous Omicron infection may not protect against a subsequent one. Although it is not clear which version of the virus Ms. Harris had in April, at the time, Omicron’s BA.2 subvariant was the dominant version in the United States.
Now, the BA.5 subvariant, which has spread even faster than previous versions, is causing a further surge in cases, including a wave of reinfections. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated last week that BA.5 accounted for nearly 80 percent of new infections in the US
“You can be pre-infected, even in the past two months, and have a very high rate of reinfection,” Dr. Ashish K. Jha, Mr. Biden’s coronavirus response coordinator, said in an interview last week.
A recent study from Qatar, which has not yet been reviewed by outside experts, suggests that BA.4 and BA.5 are better at evading antibodies from previous coronavirus infections than previous versions of Omicron.
However, people infected with an earlier version of Omicron should be better protected than those infected with other variants of the virus. According to the Qatar study, an infection with a pre-Omicron variant was 28% effective in preventing a subsequent infection with BA.4 or BA.5. A prior Omicron infection, however, was 80 percent effective in preventing a BA.4 or BA.5 infection.
— Carly Olson and Emily Anthes