Governor's Office Staff Member Tests Positive For COVID
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – A spokesperson for the California Governor's Office confirmed Friday night that a staff member has tested positive for COVID-19.
It was confirmed that the individual had not been in contact with Gov. Gavin Newsom, but was in contact with another staff member that tested negative Friday and remains in quarantine in accordance with state guidelines.
No other employees were exposed, though further contact tracing is still underway.
The virus has been surging in California over the fourth quarter of the year with fast-rising numbers for both cases and death tolls.
The state COVID-19 dashboard reported over 41,000 new cases from Thursday, in addition to 300 new deaths. In total, California has reported over 1.76 million cases and over 22,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
In late November, Newsom's entire family tested negative but went into quarantine after three of his children were exposed to a California Highway Patrol officer who tested positive for COVID-19.
"Early on in the pandemic, the Governor's Office put in place a number of protocols that minimized the amount of staff physically present at work, converted most in-person meetings to video conference calls, instituted a no questions asked remote work policy and reduced seating capacity in meeting rooms for in-person meetings that can't be done remotely. Those policies are still in effect and will be for the duration of the pandemic," the spokesperson said.
More from CBS Sacramento:
