RNC chief of staff tests positive for coronavirus

Richard Walters contracted the novel virus, a GOP official confirmed

The Republican National Committee chief of staff has tested positive for the coronavirus.

A GOP official confirmed that Richard Walters contracted the novel virus and the “RNC is following CDC guidance and notifying staff who came in contact with him.” 

Where Mr Richards potentially contracted the virus remains unknown. He was not in attendance at Donald Trump’s election party on 3 November in the White House East Room – an event that has become a super-spreader for Covid-19. 

The news comes on the same day it was revealed Corey Lewandowski, an adviser to Mr Trump who has led election recount efforts, also tested positive for Covid-19. 

Unlike Mr Richards, Mr Lewandowski was at the White House election party. But he has also travelled to Philadelphia since the event and hosted the infamous Four Seasons Total Landscaping press conference with Rudy Giuliani, Mr Trump’s lawyer, on Saturday. 

Mr Lewandowski said he believed he contracted the virus in Philadelphia and not at the White House election party, The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman reported. 

Then it was reported by Bloomberg on Thursday that longtime GOP strategist and lobbyist Jeff Miller has also tested positive for the virus after attending the White House event. 

At least seven people have thus far tested positive for Covid-19 since gathering in the White House East Room. 

Mr Lewandowski and Mr Miller make up the sixth and seventh people confirmed with the virus since the event, after businessman David Bossie; Housing and Urban Development secretary Ben Carson; White House chief of staff Mark Meadows; Brian Jack, the White House political affairs director; and Healy Baumgardner, a former White House aide who now works in private equity.

RNC chairperson Ronan McDaniel perviously tested positive for the novel virus during the first White House outbreak, which happened in at the beginning of October. Her chief of staff, Mr Richards, avoided the novel virus then but has now contracted it. 

The recent surge of cases among White House staff and political allies comes at a time when a majority of the United States is experiencing infection increases. 

The country hit the grim milestone of 10 million confirmed cases this week and more than 242,000 people have died from the novel virus, according to Johns Hopkins University.