Vice President Mike Pence will no longer be traveling to Indiana on Friday to vote early, but, according to one official, COVID-19 is not the reason behind the decision to cancel the trip.
“Nobody’s sick. There’s no positive tests. The VP is planning on traveling on Saturday and Monday. We’ll have more information on the vice president’s schedule next week soon,” press secretary Devin O’Malley said.
VP spokesman Devin O’Malley tells pool, "Nobody's sick. There's no positive tests. The VP is planning on travelling on Saturday and Monday. We'll have more information on the vice president's schedule next week soon."
— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) October 8, 2020
Pence is scheduled to campaign in Florida on Saturday and Ohio on Monday.
The vice president and his wife have both tested negative for COVID-19.
Pence tested negative again on Tuesday, according to his physician Dr. Jess Schonau.
He “has remained healthy, without any COVID-19 symptoms, and has continued to have daily COVID-19 antigen tests and intermittent PCR tests which have all resulted as negatives,” Schonau wrote in a memo.
Because Pence is not considered a close contact of Trump or any other senior White House officials, he can “go about his normal activities and does not need to quarantine.”
The announcement comes just one day after Pence traveled to Salt Lake City, Utah for the first vice presidential debate with Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
Pence and Harris sparred over the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, as IJR previously reported.
She criticized Pence for failing to act sooner when he knew about the outbreak from the beginning.
“The vice president is the head of the task force and knew on January 28 how serious this was,” Harris said.
Pence attempted to refute her claims, but was cut off by Harris.
“Mr. Vice President I’m speaking. I’m speaking,” Harris said.
She argued the Trump administration had failed the American people, as IJR previously reported.
“The American people have witnessed what is the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country,” Harris said.
Pence responded, “I want the American people to know, from the very first day, President Trump has put the health of America first.”