Ashley Biden, the daughter of President Biden and the first lady, Jill Biden, tested positive for the coronavirus and will no longer travel with the first lady to Latin America this week, the White House announced on Wednesday.
Ms. Biden, 40, was scheduled to travel with Dr. Biden to Ecuador on Wednesday afternoon. Dr. Biden is also scheduled to visit Panama and Costa Rica before returning to Washington on Monday.
Ms. Biden was not considered a close contact to the first couple, said Michael LaRosa, a spokesman for the first lady. Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said Wednesday that President Biden had not seen his daughter in “several days.”
A close contact is someone who has been less than six feet away from an infected person for at least 15 minutes over a 24-hour period, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines.
Ms. Biden is among a handful of prominent people in the president’s orbit who have recently tested positive for the coronavirus, renewing concern about President Biden’s potential exposure, though none have been considered close contacts. Susan Rice, the White House domestic policy adviser, tested positive last week.
This is the second planned trip with the first lady that Ms. Biden will miss in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Ms. Biden was to accompany Dr. Biden on her trip to Eastern Europe to visit Ukrainian refugees, but on the night of the trip, the White House said that Ms. Biden had been in close contact with someone who tested positive for the coronavirus.
